Recently I was waiting at a bar at a birthday party when a man, maybe in his mid forties, came up to me and said, “I’ve been looking at you, you have the most incredible texture in your face.” I was suprised.
I can’t describe how completely random this was. My response was, “Are you serious?” No one has ever said that to me. Then a woman on the other end, younger, probably in her early thirties, said, “I thought so too.”
Perhaps it was a complicated grievance and they were planning to flatter me into draining my bank account or joining their bizarre sex cult (neither of which happened, in case you were concerned). It’s been a long time since someone complimented me on my face.
I can only attribute this to the five sessions of a new cosmetic medical treatment called EMface that I had between November and early January. I was told full results would not be out until spring.
Well, the proof of the pudding isn’t just in clinical studies and academic papers. It’s in the comments of others.
Kate Spicer investigates whether the ‘first machine facelift’ really works. In the photo during the procedure
My Emface journey began months ago when a machine somewhere in size between a vacuum cleaner and a dishwasher was wheeled into the treatment room. The clinic’s owner, Dr Rita Rakus, paid around £200,000 for this bit of beauty engineering. You’d hope it works for that price.
For the client, the outlay is approximately £2,500 for four or five sessions and £3,000 for six 20 minute sessions. This is Emface, and it’s described as the first facelift of a machine. No knife, no needles, no lasers or harsh acids and no pain, yet noticeable, satisfying lift results.
The company’s previous forays into the cosmetic market included EMsculpt, which used muscle-building, skin-firming, and fat-melting technology on specific body parts. One session is apparently equivalent to 20,000 sit-ups or squats.
Before my facial treatment starts, I need to be connected to the mains. A cold, sticky pad of conductive materials is strapped to my back and a cable runs from my jumper to the plugs in the machine.
The pad on my back creates a circuit so that the other three pads placed on my forehead and cheeks can conduct the electricity needed to transmit radio frequency (RF) – a pleasant and intense 40 degree heat – deep into my dermis, and something called high-intensity targeted electrical stimulation (HIFES), which feels like spiders in electric stilettos crawling across my face. This is not pleasant, but it is not painful either.
Dr. Rakus says, “What you get is a little cheekbone lift. That’s the biggest piece of scaffolding on your face that’s holding back a lot. You have more collagen, it tightens the skin and it rejuvenates while the muscles get stronger.’
Clinical studies conducted by the manufacturer say the treatment increases muscle density by 30 percent, reduces wrinkles by 36.8 percent and provides 23 percent more lift.
How does it deliver these results? The RF heats the dermis to stimulate the production of collagen and elastin fibers, improving the appearance and texture of the skin. Electrostimulation sends thousands of pulses per session to contract specific ‘lift’ muscles under the pads – namely the frontalis, which smooths the forehead and raises the eyebrows, as well as the two zygomaticus muscles, which fill in the cheekbone, lift the zygomatic line and jawline and lift the corners of the mouth.
For the client, the outlay is approximately £2,500 for four or five sessions and £3,000 for six 20 minute sessions. Kate in the picture before the treatment
The British writer praises the EMface treatment, of which she has had five sessions. Pictured after the transformation
Emface has modest results compared to invasive methods, but honestly that’s exactly what I want: subtle improvement.
I hadn’t had my last session when I was sent to Germany to write about an expensive private doctor they call the king of health. Dr. Konig fixes the rich and famous (and thus the heavily botoxed and pinched). Several A-listers I can’t name want to check in with him every year.
When Dr. Konig took my medical history, he reached the part of his questions about cosmetic medicine and mumbled to himself, “Botox, yes.” He went to check the box on the forms, my expected agreement was just a formality.
‘No. I don’t have botox,’ I said. I haven’t had it for years. I frowned hard to show him how impressive my “11 Rules” are between my brows, forged by a combination of stress, reading in poor light so I don’t upset the grumpy sod next to me in bed, and always forgetting my reading glasses.
Dr. Konig looked suspicious and assured me it was okay to get work done and I didn’t have to lie. I insisted I had nothing in my face because that was the truth. He reluctantly complimented me on my wrinkle-free forehead (then he said I’d look better with blepharoplasty surgery to remove excess skin on my eyelids).
Emface has modest results compared to invasive methods, which is perfect for those who want a subtle touch. Kate pictured in March
So while Emface can’t attack the muscles that make up the 11s, or remove excess skin on my eyelids or the crow’s feet around my eyes, overall it’s given me incredible results since it’s a non-invasive, pain-relieving treatment. free treatment.
It’s the result I’ve been craving ever since I decided to move away from needles (I once had filler to lift the corners of my mouth, but ended up with a duck face. My sister-in-law laughed out loud, my rather kind sister said, ‘It’s falling come on, you look like someone from TOWIE.’)
At the end of my fifth and final session with Dr. Rakus, she takes an expert look at my face and says the machine has done the job of about four syringes of filler and Botox, in terms of improving my face.
I’ll name a few things that still bother me – faint puppet lines next to my mouth and those elves. I can live with the crow’s feet. She thinks she can fix them with one syringe of Botox.
She describes a similar machine, Juvena, which uses the same technology but can work on different areas of the face. I decide to say no for now. Not least because I no longer have a budget.
Clinical studies conducted by the manufacturer say the treatment increases muscle density by 30 percent, reduces wrinkles by 36.8 percent and provides 23 percent more lift. Kate imagined getting the treatment at the clinic
Dr. Rakus — who has been dubbed “the London Lip Queen” for her syringe-handling skills — is so convinced that these painless, needle-free facelifts are the future. She herself does not use anything else. “I only have the machine treatments now,” she says.
Waiting at reception I meet another cosmetic doctor in practice (who prefers not to be named as she also works in the NHS). She too says she only uses the machines, despite having, like Dr. Rakus, administered gallons of botox and fillers over the years.
So how do I choose to measure my results? Well, the before and after is a pretty brutal benchmark, if a little underwhelming. And then there were my admirers at the party. Or the woman at a funeral who said, “Damn, how is your skin so silky smooth.”
The biggest test for me is always how I feel, not how I look. When I look at myself in the mirror in the morning, or see myself in a shop window, do I (a) shudder or feel a slight shock or tightness, or (b) feel pleasantly surprised at best or nothing at all? all of them, or (c) so happy and excited by marked improvements that I have to stop and pout fetch on every reflective surface?
As a 53-year-old adult, it’s the second option these days: (b) is my favorite, and that’s definitely what I got.
Kate Spicer received her treatments at Dr. Rita Rakus in South West London (drritarakus.co.uk). Prices for Emface start at £2,500.