I bet lots of you are with me here – you’ve experienced that sagging feeling when you notice one day that your cheeks and forehead don’t look quite as perky as they once did – they are starting to drop.
It’s gravity, dammit. But now, there’s a way to stop the slide and rebuild the muscle mass in your face, though it doesn’t involve lighting weights at the gym. But just like you can build up the muscles in your arms and legs, you can pump, or should I say, plump, up the muscles in your face.
Readers, meet EmFace, a new dermatological treatment that utilizes “high intensity focused electrical stimulation and radio frequency” to rebuild your facial muscle mass, along with collagen in order to uplift cheeks, the forehead, and eliminate wrinkles.
Jessica Simpson recently tried it and posted a video on her Instagram with EmFace’s stimulating patches on her face. Once the patches were removed, the singer/designer, 42, was clearly impressed with the results. “Oh yeah, wow,” she shared while examining her face.
Now here’s the deal with EmFace. It’s only been available to patients in the U.S. for about four months and “it’s the first time that there’s been a technology that remodels facial skin by toning the muscles, taking away wrinkles, and giving the face more life,” explains dermatologist Dr. Bruce Katz, Director of the Juva Skin & Laser Center, in NYC.
Dr. Katz has treated about 20 patients with EmFace since the treatment has been available and relays that he and his staff have seen impressive results. “It takes five or 10 years off a patient’s looks.” One of those patients agrees, telling me, “I want to age gracefully. My appearance is important to me and I want to be well groomed,” explains Diane, a filmmaker, director, and artist, who describes herself as a “mature person,” who had no interest in doing surgeries and risking looking “strange.”
Instead, she underwent EmFace treatment. For best results, the course of treatment is four sessions with patches applied to the cheeks and forehead, that are attached to the EmFace machine. Jessica Simpson showed herself with the patches applied and being peeled off.
A 20-minute treatment is done once a week, preferably for four consecutive weeks, to get top results. Once applied, the patches deliver electrical and radio stimulation as they rapidly contract the facial skin and muscles.
“When we exercise, we contract the muscles and stimulate muscle growth. This is like exercise on steroids,” explains Dr. Katz. EmFace “does contractions 20 times faster (than you do with exercise). It continually contracts the facial muscles as if it’s exercising them against resistance. These contractions increase the muscle mass in the face, restores lift to the face. It also stimulates collagen production and the collagen fills in the wrinkles.”
Diane reports that she loves the results so face. “I’ve noticed an improvement, especially around the mouth. The jowls are tightening and lifting in a natural way.” But, she advises, the treatment “takes a little bit to get used to. You’re not used to having your face exercised.”
I agree that the EmFace contractions do take a little bit to get used to. I tried the procedure and the first few minutes feel a bit weird, as the pads deliver the contractions which literally feel like your face is being stretched and pulled. But then you adjust to the feeling and the rate of the contractions can be increased by the technician, up to the maximum rate so you get maximum results.
A bonus of EmFace is that it doesn’t leave patients with red, swollen, and dried-out faces – an after-effect that anyone who has ever undergone laser treatments to stimulate collagen growth has felt. Those laser treatments are effective at restoring collagen but you definitely want to spend 25 minutes slathered with numbing cream before undergoing a treatment that is uncomfortable for the several minutes that it takes. But then, your face is red and swollen for three or four days and needs some serious makeup coverage. You will require four to six treatments for the best results. Contrast that with EmFace, which only takes 20 minutes once the applicators are applied. And THEN, you have no residual redness and swelling.
Like with all collagen-stimulating treatments, it usually does take about four weeks to start to notice the positive effects. And you will continue to see improvement for six months. Diane, however, told me that she already had noticed results after two or three treatments. I’ve also started to see results after two treatments and your face looks just like “your” face, not “strange” in any way.
So what does this cost? It’s not cheap at $1,295 per session, but compare that to the cost of a facelift which can vary from $10,000-$100,000 depending on which area of the country you live in and how much work needs to be done.
Forehead lifts range from $5,000 to $25,000 depending on where you lift. For more information and to find a dermatologist offering EMFACE, go to bodybybtl.com.