Planning for the Future
When we deiced to add RF Microneedling to our clinic Dr. Kennea undertook a large due diligence project. Together with her staff she tried Secret RF, Scarlett RF, Morpheus and several other less known models. Dr. Kennea personally had a treatment with all of them, as did her trusted experts, RN Deanna Starr and Derm expert Emily Witham. They tried, they compared notes, and together worked out what was the best fit for Whistler Medical Aesthetics.b Ultimately of course the decision was down to Dr. Kennea.
To be completely fair, it was a close race, in fact it came down to two…. until Mike at Aya Medical offered to bring something new to the race. A new technology, literally just approved by Health Canada was available. Nobody else in Canada had this device, but it had been available in the USA for about 18 months. The Genius RF micro needling device with Artificial Intelligence.
For the first time, a medical aesthetics device was using machine intelligence to determine a number of factors in real time, during a treatment! Wow!
Now from our perspective, all of the current devices are very, very good. In truth most decision were actually around brand and price, as they all offered similar high standards of technology and outcomes.
And so, as it turned out, Genius RF was the very last device that Dr. Kennea had at the clinic for a demo.
So why Whistler Medical Aesthetics choose Genius RF? Well it wasn’t just the Artifical Intelligence. The proof as they say, is in the pudding, and within a week of having her neck treated, to be quite brutally honest Dr. K was astonished (and I can assure you this rarely happens!!!) The results were quite visible in a very short time, and would only continue to get better over the next 3-4 weeks. She/we noted that her skin was feeling and looking younger. Much younger.
And so in April 2021, Whistler Medical Aesthetics became the first location in Canada to bring the Genius® RF Micro-needling platform to Canadian patients.
Genius® RF - Needles
Most current devices on the market have between 24 & 29 needles. Experience tell’s us that most patients need 3 passes (the number of times in one treatment the same area needs to be treated/passed over). By the third pass, it can start to feel quite ‘Spicey’; that’s uncomfortable in layman’s terms.
When Lutronic designed Genius, they already had a device (Infini) in clinics etc This meant they had valuable lessons to learn. One of those was at the sharp end – the needles!
These devices already have incredibly fine needles, but Lutronic wanted a needle that was engineered more efficiently, more consistently and more suited to the delivery of Radio Frequency. They engineered a needle that is finer, more consistent in its composition and gold plated, for better RF delivery. This allowed them to increase the number to 49 needles, Take a look in this pic that compares the needles to earlier iterations.
What difference does this make?
It is well established that Aesthetic thought leaders agree that application of therapeutic heat via an array of insulated microneedles is a breakthrough in heat mediated tissue tightening and skin rejuvenation.
Scientific Research has shown that heating the dermis to a certain temperature will cause collagen stimulation and contraction. By heating a little further to 40-45 degrees Celsius, enough heat is created to cause the body to try to repair the area by laying down new collagen. Higher temperatures, in the 65 degree range, will denature (alter) collagen and cause contraction, hence skin tightening.
This is where we have seen the biggest change with Genius RF. Despite the known efficacy of RF Micronnedling devices, patients need to understand that this is a highly specialized medical procedure (It’s why Genius is only available at Physician Directed practices where the physician is actually in practice and not just a figurehead.) You see differences in skin thickness, hydration and the composition of collagen and fat can lead to placement of the energy at unknown or variable depths. If the energy is placed too deep, you can get fat necrosis (Fat necrosis is a condition that occurs when a person experiences an injury to an area of fatty tissue. This can result in the fat being replaced with the oily contents of fat cells. The term “necrosis” means the cells have died.) . If the heat is placed too superficially, the skin can burn or get hyperpigmentation. It is critically important for practitioners to understand and have expertise in this area, as if they don’t actually reach the critical temperatures, there will be no stimulation of collagen, and the patient has wasted their money. Unhappy patient, unhappy clinic.
This is the key area Genius has sought to address. Delivering the precise amount of heat (via RF) at the precise depth, at all times. Genius measures in real time the patients reactions to the needles as they enter the skin, no matter the differences in skin thickness, hydration, composition of collagen and fat, Genius measures this in real time, adjusts and delivers the precise depth and RF delivery for truly consistent and effective coagulation. When coagulation occurs the body’s response to the injury is much more intense, so in order to achieve maximum skin tightening and collagen formation coagulation is needed in the dermis. GENIUS!
Artificial Intelligence - Precision is Confidence
The proof as they say is in the pudding.
