Completely Recommended - California

I have not done Thermage or Titan but I have done many laser photofacials. Refirme is radio frequency, not laser. I had a topical anesthetic cream applied to my face 30 min. before the treatment. The treatment is painful. And I turned quite red. I ended up having some lines of burn marks, just under the skin, along my jaw line -- after a week this moved up and naturally shedded like very thin scabs, but I had to use extra concealer until it shedded.

There wasn't any peeling but I did have some face swelling -- more like face puffiness that lasted a few days.

Refirme doesn't seem to do anything until you get to the 2nd week. Suddenly you start to notice your skin tightening up naturally fine lines start to disappear and you can almost see the collagen rebuilding.

After three weeks, I would say I've taken off 3-5 years in one treatment. They say it only gets better, as the collagen continues to rebuild even after 6 months.

I am going to do 2 more treatments in this series, then probably a maintenance once a year.

I will definitely pay to do this treatment for my arms/hands and my neck/decollete -- then move to a maintenance on those too.

I figure this treatment will keep me from having to do injectables -- no Botox, no Juvederm or Restylne. I figure this could be the holy grail of keeping your skin young and may put these injectables out of business some day.

Since writing my last review, I've had a second treatment of Refirme.  It's now been several weeks since that treatment.  This second treatment was part of 2 other treatments -- a fotofacial and Matrix.  So I had three treatments in one sitting, which cost me a lot more. 

I experienced more skin "burning"/"marking" with the 2nd treatment, but I feel that it was because I hadn't hydrated my skin as much as the first time.  Good hydration is key for less ablation during laser treatments.  This 2nd treatment was also more painful than the 1st, which I suppose again was due to less skin hydration.  I would say I almost reached the point of needing more than just topical anesthetic this 2nd time.  Perhaps my doctor was too aggressive?  Don't know.

It took me about 5-7 days for my face to recover this time.  The first 3 days I couldn't quite get the makeup to cover the marks -- so I had to cancel going out.  After that, though, it quickly got better.  By the 5th day, most of the marks had sloughed off and I had very little to cover up.  So, I would recommend you plan for some downtime, just in case -- perhaps do the treatment on a Thursday or Friday. 

The results, though, are the reason why I went back for a 2nd treatment in the first place -- in spite of the pain, in spite of a bit of downtime.  The results were very good from the 1st treatment.  Adding in a fotofacial and Matrix with the Refirme for the 2nd time -- the results are nothing more than amazing.  I definitely look at least 5-7 years younger.  My fine lines are almost gone.  My skin is MUCH tighter and younger looking (has a glow I haven't seen in years).   Some line have completely filled in on their own -- can hardly believe it.

The results, to date, have been nothing short of astounding.  The changes are unique.  You don't have a frozen or puffy look, like you would with injectables.  Instead, you still look like YOU but your best mature YOU -- whatever your age.  That said, the treatment does create a subtle younger look -- in my case, 5-7 years younger but in such a subtle way that people can't pinpoint what I've done.  Not a stretched look.  Not a weird look.  You simply look REALLY healthy, nearly line free (for me that has been the result because I only had the beginnings of fine lines to start with, mostly around my eyes), and a VERY even complexion. 

I have another appointment coming up in about 2 weeks to finish out my 3-series treatment.