ReFirme: Stories

I did a series of Elos/Refirme + Photofacial. I thought I looked pretty good after. One year later it was worse then before I started. Completel waste of money. Photofacials I think are ok. The rest is a waste of time, pain and money

funny... i just had my second refirm treatment and im beginning to think the sames thing... i looked best after my first treatment. i dont see any difference after the second one.

RE: the Elos... a person on MissJ posted the link to your forum and I thought I would let you know that I had ELOS 2 years ago (Refirme) on the lowest radiofrequency setting and a moderate # of joules. It was considered a pretty gentle setting. I have rosacea, did then and that was what they were treating me for, and now it is permanently much much worse (neuropathic rosacea is what it's called). My skin looked terrible for months after the ELOS session and I had to find another doctor who speciliazed in rosacea. I was very lucky to find one of the best in my own backyard. My skin condition was worsened tremendously by one Refirme treatment. There was no question about it; it happened immediately. This is not a technology a person with rosacea should ever consider. Anything that heats the tissues deeper down such as radiofrequency devices must do in order to tighten tissues, is very risky for us. If I had known that I would never have considered it. My provider was a nurse and knew nothing about the disease (I didn't discover this until later). She worked at a doctor's office where I have had plenty of experience so I thought it would be fine and she was trained by a doctor advertising lots of rosacea experience. My mistake, I should have trusted my own judgement, which was telling me something was wrong. I have spent thousands since then to try to get my skin condition under control, and even now, though it looks much better, the disease is difficult to control. I now have to take medication, avoid many foods, alcohol, spices, and have developed many new contact allergies. So please be very very careful and do your homework before considering any sort of laser or RF work, especially if you have a redness condition or even suspect you have one. Even if your condition is mild, improper treatment could make it much worse and very fast. Rosacea is disfiguring and progressive in many people. Many times the doctor or nurse knows only as much as the sales rep or instructor has told him or her, and that may be precious little. If you have rosacea, nothing emitting radiofrequency energy or ablative lasers, and even some non-ablative lasers like fractional devices, are appropriate for you. And you need a provider who specializes in rosacea treatment. Unfortunately many people afflicted with this disease have to travel to get proper treatment.

I would think the choice of doctor would have everything to do if you're going to have a great effect from Refirme. Also, if you have pretty good skin to begin with, wouldn't it only enhance it?

I don't have a serious sagging issue and my "jowls" are very subtle so far. I can just see them begin to form (maybe I shouldn't even call them jowls yet). I'm a triathlete and don't have weigth issues. Looking at my mother my DNA should be ok too. Just the normal facial changes that come at middle age. So my thinking was that because my jowls are so subtle and my problem not that bad yet the Refirme should take care of it. After all it's especially advertised for sagging skin and lifting jowls. Nothing so far yet though. I too doubt it will help with more serious problems since it doesn't even help with my moderate cosmetic concerns. Of course it could also have to do with the Doc. I had Botox 3 times with about no effect. Started to think it was just not working on me. Then I changed the doctor and got great reults ever since....

ErikaM - thank you for posting about refirme. i was wondering about getting it for facial sagging. i kind of concluded that nothing but surgery will correct it...that'll have to wait until it becomes more pronounced sagging. What other cosmetic procedures did you research? I've only heard about thermage.

I've had Refirme. And I would say that if you have jowls, you're going to get only moderate results from the before/after pictures I've seen. I did not have a sagging issue to start with, so for me it was firming up my skin so that I could prolong my sans-sagging, clean up the lines I was forming, and make my skin healthier by producing more collagen on its own. If you have a serious sagging issue, which is largely due to your DNA or weight issues, then you could ask your Refirme physician for a referral to a plastic surgeon who could do a micro lift on just that area. Then, after that, you could revert back to treatments like Refirme as a prevention approach so that you can maintain your look without the invasive surgery.