Radiofrequency and skin rejuvenation: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

Increasingly, there is an attempt to minimize expression lines through esthetic procedures, and radiofrequency (RF) is one of the therapeutic modalities. This article aims to systematically review the literature on the different types of RF treatment in clinical trials and in variables related to the aging process. This systematic review included 21 articles that treated 354 people with different physical characteristics. The most used RF was the fractional followed by the non-ablative RF. There was a large discrepancy in relation to the types and parameters. A parameter that did not show so much divergence was the temperature, which was between 38°C and 44°C. The main temporary adverse reactions reported by the authors were as follows: discomfort, pain, erythema, hyperpigmentation, crusting, swelling, edema, and purple and acneic appearance of the skin. Finally, our study concluded that non-ablative and ablative RF was reported to rejuvenate and improve the features of skin in all skin types.

KEYWORDS:

• Radiofrequency therapy
• skin
• rejuvenation
• lasers and light sources

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contribution

Patricia Gabrielli Vassão, Ana Claudia Renno, Livia Assis Garcia, Cintia Cristina Santi Martignago – Conceptualization, Methodology, Data collection, Writing – Original draft preparation and Editing; Ana Beatriz Balão, Giovanna Caroline Aparecida do Vale, Beatriz Mendes Credidio, Julia Risso Parisi – Methodology, writing-reviewing and editing. Eva-Liisa Laakso – Final review of the English language. The author(s) read and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) [2020/01513-5].