Trying Thermitight for Lower Face, Upper Bleph

I have genetic heavy lower cheeks, which have gotten a bit worse with age. I wasn't ready for a facelift since I'm not even 40 yet, so after a LOT of research I decided to try the new procedure using radiofrequency energy, ThermiRF. There are several applications of this, but the one I tried is the ThermiTight for the face. I've also considered a LazerLift but decided against it after several consults since it seems that Thermi is safer, especially in terms of damage to facial nerves.

I found a doctor in NY who was one of the first adopters of Thermi (it's only been around for a couple of years for this specific use, to tighten skin and melt fat), had a consultation (I did see several other doctors but settled on Dr. Halaas because of her experience with this new technology), and signed up.... I was nervous. If you read about the procedure, they insert a small needle into several places on your lower face and then a heat probe goes through it. It's "minimally invasive", but invasive nonetheless. I was told there will be significant swelling, but bruising is unlikely. So far this is mainly used for lower chin and neck tightening, but there have been good results with the jawline as well, so I decided to give it a shot.

I've also been wanting to do my upper eyes and this doctor does this procedure a lot, which is great, and I saw many, many of her before and afters which I liked, so I decided to combine.

So I went in today! I had everything done under local. They did give me a Valium, which was not half as exciting as I hoped :), but it did calm me down. We had a long consultation about how exactly I wanted my eyes to look, because I didn't want a drastic change. The doctor was very receptive and really listened. We had a lot of back and forth before settling on what I hope will be my end goal.

The procedures themselves took 2 hours max, maybe less. The upper bleph was a piece of cake, whatever tugging there was I didn't mind at all. Thermi was a bit more uncomfortable just because the probe gets inserted into several places from one tiny incision by the ear, and the heat from the probe was somewhat unpleasant, but again it was nothing crazy and was over pretty quickly.

I was supposed to have someone pick me up, but they were running late, and I actually felt so ok an hour after we were done (I just stayed in the operation room icing my eyes), that I was allowed to go home on my own in a cab. I didn't feel woozy or anything, no real pain, only a slight burning on my upper eyelids. I did have to wear a bulky headwrap to control the swelling from Thermi, which I get to take off in 24 hours and replace with a small head bandage (4 days, but can wear at night only).

I warned my boyfriend that I will look crazy, so when he came home and saw me, he was actually surprised and said "it doesn't look that bad at all!" The swelling in my cheeks seems to be increasing and I expect it will take more than a few days to settle, but that's ok.

I'm trying to ice every 20 minutes and I am checking myself in the mirror, which you are not supposed to do, but I'm kind of curious to see the progress of red around my eyes... a bit like makeup!

So far so good. Hoping I'll be able to sleep on my back.
Don't know how I will sleep tonight

Day 1 after the procedure! I slept surprisingly well, only woke up once and decided to ice for a little bit before going back to sleep. I bought a 12' wedge pillow from amazon, put another pillow on top and then put one of those round flight pillows on to make sure my head doesn't turn to the side. Even though I never sleep on my back, this time it worked. I have no pain whatsoever so I didn't even take any Tylenol (I did get Vicodin for the surgery itself).

It's not pretty in the mirror, but I'm not complaining. I read enough reviews on this site - thank you everyone! - to be prepared for the worst, especially on days 2-3. I do wonder how long swelling from Thermi will last, I do look like a crazy chipmunk underneath the wrap (which is how my boyfriend started calling me, who also asked me this morning not to do any more PS... but he is bravely looking at me, and bringing me soft foods! :)

I actually well see enough to be on the computer and am totally fine walking around and doing some chores. I don't want to overdo it, and do need to keep reminding myself to ice every 20 minutes (which is SO boring!). They gave me steroids to keep the swelling down, but since the pills are for 6 days, I'm assuming that's at least how long I'll have to deal with it. I re-wrapped the bandage since it started to slip off after sleeping on my back, and there seems to be very very mild bruising in the jowl area where the doctor applied more heat, but nothing too bad.

Off to ice!

Woke up with some swelling under my eyes, I guess the fluid is going down. I tried to cut down on my salt intake and stick to yogurts and protein shakes, but had some 'normal' food for dinner, maybe that was the culprit. Icing throughout the day but less than yesterday. Hard to follow that 20 mins on, 20 mins off rule. Still, I think I see some improvement. But I'm staying at home for now, don't want to scare the neighbors!