There has been a lot of talk about XERF lately, and I was curious to try it. XERF is in every beauty editor’s diary. The Korean device from Cynosure Lutronic has arrived in Europe and America with a reputation that runs ahead of it, and people call it the successor to Thermage. That is a bold claim, and it deserves a closer look. So I booked an appointment with Dr Timm Golüke in Munich, and these are the reasons why I would do it again.
HOW IT WORKS
The principle is radiofrequency. XERF warms the deeper layers of the skin while its surface stays cool. The collagen fibres contract under the heat, and over the following weeks the skin quietly rebuilds itself, producing new collagen and elastin. The difference lies in the two frequencies. At 6.78 MHz it works close to the surface, on texture and fine lines. At 2 MHz it goes deeper, towards the structure that holds the jawline, the cheeks and the neck.
FIVE REASONS TO CONSIDER XERF
1. PRECISION
Most radiofrequency devices treat a single layer. XERF treats two, so the result looks more even: the skin is smoother on top and firmer underneath.
2. COMFORT
Thermage has a reputation for discomfort that has put many people off. Thanks to its cooling, XERF is described in clinic after clinic as far gentler. Often a light numbing cream is enough, sometimes not even that.
3. DISCRETION
A little redness that fades within a few hours, and that is all. You can book it at lunchtime and go out to dinner in the evening without anyone guessing.
4. A NATURAL RESULT
Nothing is injected and nothing is filled. The face changes through its own collagen, slowly, over two to three months. Your friends will say you look rested, as if you had just come back from a long holiday.
5. IT LASTS
One session is usually enough, with an effect that holds for about a year. For those who think long term, a yearly appointment keeps it up.
A WORD OF CAUTION
As the French would say: lucidité. XERF tightens; it does not lift the way a surgeon’s scalpel does. It is at its best on mild to moderate laxity, roughly from the mid thirties to the late fifties (that’s me). Independent long term studies are still few. The price is close to Thermage, and the result depends heavily on whose hands hold the device. Choose a dermatologist who uses it often and knows which pressure and intensity suit your skin.
WHERE
Dr Timm Golüke. Dermatology practice in Munich, offering XERF as part of its aesthetic dermatology treatments.
Maximilianstrasse 30, 80539 München
“Nothing injected, nothing filled. Just my own collagen, doing the work.”