FaceTite and NeckTite [Small Procedures, Big Results - Part 3]

Welcome back to Behind the Double Doors. I'm Dr. Bob Basu. So let's talk about FaceTite, also known as NeckTite. So FaceTite is called RFAL. What's RFAL? It's radiofrequency assisted liposuctioning. So FaceTite uses radiofrequency energy to create heat, and that does two things. Number one, it liquefies fat. So this is a form of liposuction, so we are removing fat. But number two, and very importantly, radiofrequency energy uses that heat to tighten loose skin and build collagen. So this is a skin tightening modality. FaceTite I think should really be called NeckTite because you're not really treating the upper portion of your face with this technology, where I get the best, amazing, transformative results are really in the jaw line, in your jowls, and in your neck and chin area. That's where I get some incredible transformations with this very minimally invasive procedure.

(01:09)
Now, this procedure can be done under local anesthesia with a little oral sedation, or it can be done under IV sedation or general anesthesia. It typically takes me about an hour to do, and what it involves is a tiny little opening underneath your chin that's hidden. When I say opening, I'm talking about a two millimeter opening that I make with a little needle actually, I don't even use a scalpel for this. And then I make a tiny little opening behind your ear, so it's hidden. That's it. No long incisions here. Then, I use a cannula or a rod, which is called a FaceTite aka NeckTite cannula. Now, what does that mean cannula? Look at your pen, and the size of that cannula is basically smaller than the tip of a ballpoint pen. And I slide that little rod once everything's numbed up.

(01:55)
I slide that little rod through that opening, and at the tip of that cannula or rod, it's emitting radio radiofrequency energy. And that radiofrequency energy is doing two things, liquefying fat, number one, and number two, it's creating heat to tighten skin. So this is a form of liposuctioning, but it's very, very, very different than just regular lipo because we're using the radiofrequency energy to tighten up that loose skin. And I love this because with lipo, sometimes when you just lipo the neck, you can be left with some loose skin or wrinkly skin. But with FaceTite or NeckTite, the radiofrequency energy basically helps to tighten down that skin. And the wonderful thing is on table I see at least 10 to 20% skin tightening right away. Now, that's not your end result, because radiofrequency energy starts the process of what's called collagenesis, fancy word for building collagen. And I tell my patients that over time, over the next three to six months, more blood supply will go to the neck area and the treatment areas.

(02:58)
That blood supply brings the cells to build up more collagen to continue further skin tightening. I tell my patients that the maximal skin tightening for this procedure can be anywhere between 20 to even in the best case scenarios up to 40%. And we get some incredible results in patients that are sometimes some of these results look like that they've had a surgical face and neck lift without having the surgery, and that's wonderful about this. This is a great modality for patients who are younger, or patients that may have a little bit extra fat, or more than a little bit extra fat in the neck to really contour and slenderize the jawline in the neck. I encourage you to look at our show notes to look at some before, after photos that really are transformative. And if you follow us on Instagram @basuplasticsurgery, we have some exciting before, after stories from patients with their results from FaceTite aka NeckTite.

(03:52)
So who's an ideal candidate for FaceTite also known as NeckTite? Really anyone. I've done it on patients who are young in their late 20s and 30s that just want to have a better contour. They're concerned about excess fat in their jawline and neck. I've done this on patients who are in their 40s or 50s. However, I think a better question is, who's not a good candidate for this? What I don't want to do is offer a treatment modality and it doesn't meet the patient's expectations. So if a patient has severe loose skin, they're a massive weight loss patient, or they have lots of banding in their neck, where more work needs to be done to tighten the muscular structure or the support structures in the neck, that's where you really need to consider a surgical procedure like a deep plane face and neck lift.

(04:36)
But if you don't have those muscle bands, you have moderate to mild loose skin, and then face and NeckTite can be a minimally invasive alternative for you because the recovery is fairly quick. So what's the recovery from FaceTite and NeckTite procedures? Like I said, the procedure takes me about an hour to do. Oftentimes, I also combine it with external radiofrequency with the technology called Morpheus8 to further tighten the skin. Morpheus8 is a non-invasive, non-surgical procedure, which can be done in the office. Procedure typically takes me an hour outpatient surgery, most patients can work from home the next day. I do like my patients to wear a chin strap for compression for about five to seven days all the time. It really prevents any swelling from happening, and I think it really facilitates and accelerates the skin tightening effects. After the week, I generally tell patients to wear a chin strap at night.

(05:27)
Most patients can go back to work in a day or two after this procedure. I generally tell them to hold off on going to the gym for about two weeks, just allow everything to settle down and they're back to normal. So fairly quick recovery. Now, common question is, how painful is the procedure? Good news is we can do this under local anesthesia. We can do this under IV sedation or even general anesthesia. It's up to the patient and the anesthesiologist, but the pain is quite minimal. We give our patients narcotic pain pills. It is extremely rare that they even have to take one or two pain pills after this procedure. They just take some Tylenol. If they do have some nerve pain from the liposuction effects, we can give them some non-narcotic anti-nerve medicine, medicine called gabapentin is great. And so the good news is this is a fairly low pain procedure.

(06:11)
Even my most nervous patients come back and say, "Wow. This was so pain free. I didn't even take any of my pain pills." So the good news is because we're not making large incisions, because it's a minimally invasive procedure, the recovery is pretty expedited and the pain is minimal. So what are some of the risks of FaceTite, NeckTite? Well, the good news is the risk for thermal injury is really, really low because it's a smart technology. The technology actually measures the temperature that the tip of the cannula to make sure you don't overheat the skin. So it really, really, really minimizes the risk for any thermal injury. What does thermal injury mean? Burns. Contour irregularities can occur from liposuction, however, with FaceTite, because radiofrequency energy is helping to tighten that skin down, it is really, really, really rare to see any contour irregularities.

(06:56)
You can get some bruising, it can occur. I do see it occasionally, but typically the bruising goes away in about seven to 10 days if it occurs at all. Numbness can occur for a few days because the numbing medicine, and there's always a small rare, rare, rare chance of some facial asymmetries that can occur. The good news is we're not cutting things here. So if you do see a little minor facial asymmetry, it just means that the heat transmitted to one of the nerves, the nerves fell asleep and the nerves will wake up by itself. It is extremely, extremely rare to see that, it can happen, but fortunately, very, very rare, and it's generally temporary if it occurs at all. And so the important question is, when do you see your results? Here's the good news. Patients see their results right away. In fact, I'm thinking about the last patient I just did last week.

(07:41)
She came back to see me five days after her procedure. I took 190 CCs of fat from her neck. Now, I told her, "You're going to be swollen. It's going to take about four or five weeks to see your results, your true end results." She came back to me day five and she was crying in tears. She was so happy with the result. For the first time, her jowls were gone. She had a sharp jawline, she had a flat neck. And I told her, "If you're happy now just five days after your procedure, you're going to be ecstatic in four weeks when your swelling goes away." So the results are almost instantaneous, but they do get better with time. To give you a reference for 190 CCs, typically when I do lipo on a smaller neck, I'm taking 20 to 40 CCs out. So 190 CCs is a lot of fat removed from a neck.

(08:26)
But what that means for that patient is it's a massive transformation in terms of how slender their neck's going to look. So one thing that we cannot treat with FaceTite is if you have fat that is underneath the muscles in your neck, then we can't get to that. So on your neck, you've got skin, underneath the skin there's subcutaneous fat or a fatty layer, some people have more fat than others there. And then we have these muscle bands, and then underneath the muscle bands you can have fat, also known as subplatysmal fat. So if you have fat underneath the muscle, then that would require an incisional procedure to go remove that fat with a neck lift. The other thing that we cannot treat with NeckTite or FaceTite is if you have large glands, also known as submandibular glands, we can't treat that.

(09:15)
But regardless of subplatysmal fat or glands, when you treat the subcutaneous fat, it still makes a big difference on the neck and the jawline. So there are some inherent no limitations depending on anatomy. And again, it goes back to I have to examine you and tell you what we can achieve and what we can't achieve based on the physical exam. So can FaceTite or NeckTite be done with any other procedure? Absolute. We do it all the time. It's very common. For instance, when I'm doing a cosmetic breast surgery or I'm doing a mommy makeover, we combine this and add NeckTite, which typically only adds about 45 minutes procedure, and it really doesn't add anything to the recovery. So very common for us, since this is a small procedure with a big result, we can add this on to other procedures that we do.

(09:58)
So in summary, FaceTite, also known as NeckTite really is a powerful tool, a minimally invasive tool to really sharpen your jawline, treat your jowls, and really treat the neck area to give you a nice flat neck. It's important that you visit me so I can evaluate you to see if you're a good candidate, who's a great candidate for mild to moderate loose skin in the neck. However, if you have bands or severe loose skin, severe jowls, then we may need to consider a surgical face and neck lift to really give you the best results. Really, it's about picking the right tools to give you the right results to achieve your goals, and that really requires an evaluation.

(10:34)
So I can be honest with you, lay out the options of pros and cons, so together we can select the best treatment plan for you. If you're listening today, we want to ask you for a special favor. If you love this podcast, if you learn something from it, if it's helped you, follow the show, tell your friends and write a review on the show on Apple Podcast. To get special updates and be notified by email when a new episode is available, click the link in the show notes to sign up for our email list. Follow us on Instagram @basuplasticsurgery.

Basu Aesthetics and Plastic Surgery is located in Northwest Houston in the Towne Lake area of Cypress. If you'd like to be a guest or ask a question for Dr. Basu to answer on the podcast, go to basuplasticsurgery.com/podcast. On Instagram, follow Dr. Basu and the team @basuplasticsurgery. That's B-A-S-U Plastic Surgery. Behind the Double Doors is a production of The Axis, the axis.io.