Patient selection for skin-tightening procedures.

Noninvasive skin-tightening devices have become increasingly popular over the last decade to improve skin laxity with minimal risk and recovery time. Proper patient selection improves patient outcomes and satisfaction. There are many devices available for tightening including monopolar radiofrequency, bipolar radiofrequency, fractional radiofrequency devices, infrared devices, combined light and bipolar radiofrequency devices, and intense focused ultrasound devices. There have been shortcomings with tightening devices including inconsistent clinical outcomes. The question arises, why are there inconsistent results and variability among patient outcomes? Variability could be related to different devices, treatment protocols, body area treated, and patient selection. Patient age, degree of laxity, history of smoking, ethnicity, body mass index, and individual patient pain threshold could all possibly contribute to patient response to tightening devices. The literature does not elucidate consistently, which variables are the most important in predicting best patient response. Included is a review of the literature discussing skin tightening and patient selection.