RF Skin Tightening for the Tummy and Arms: What to Expect

For the general picture of how RF works, read Does RF skin tightening work? This guide picks up where that one stops.

Loose skin or a pocket of fat?

First, be clear about what is actually bothering you, because the answer decides the treatment.

RF is about skin. It warms the deeper layers of the skin in a controlled way, and over the weeks that follow the treated skin can look firmer and smoother. It does nothing for a pocket of fat sitting underneath. If you pinch the area and what you hold is mostly soft fat, rather than thin, crepey skin that folds, RF is not the place to start.

For stubborn fat I offer different treatments, and my body sculpting page explains them. Plenty of women have a bit of both. I would just rather you knew which one you are paying to address. If you are not sure, say so on your form and I will look at the area with you on the day.

RF on the tummy

A tummy that has been stretched by pregnancy often stays a little loose long after the weight has gone. That is the skin I have in mind when someone asks about body RF, and it is one of the areas the treatment suits.

Because of its size, the tummy counts as two areas. That means a 90-minute appointment at £130, rather than the 45 minutes and £65 of a single area. The extra time is not padding. Covering a larger surface properly, in slow passes, while keeping the warmth even across the whole area, simply takes longer. Thighs are booked the same way.

A few things matter more on the tummy than on the face:

• Timing after pregnancy. RF is not suitable during pregnancy or straight after it, so this is not something to book in the first weeks after a birth. Put your dates on the form and I will check them with you.
• Surgery in the area. I do not work over unhealed surgery. If you have had any operation on your tummy, a caesarean included, write it on your form so I can check the timing before your appointment.
• Metal. Metal implants, pins, an artificial hip or dental plates are on my list of reasons not to have RF at all, whichever area you have in mind.

I set the energy level for the area and for your skin on the day. The settings for a neck are not the settings for a tummy.

RF on the backs of the arms

The backs of the arms are one of the places where skin thins and softens with time.

The back of the arms counts as one area: 45 minutes, £65. The area just above the knees is booked the same way.

Arms with a lot of loose skin respond less than arms that have only started to soften, and if I think a course would disappoint you, I will tell you before you spend anything.

What a body session involves

After you book, I send you a short form about your skin, your health and what you would like to change. If anything on it concerns me, I message you before the appointment, so nothing comes as a surprise. On the day there are about five minutes of talking it through, and then the treatment starts, all inside the same appointment.

The radio frequency itself is slow work. I move the handpiece over a conductive gel in passes, checking the skin temperature as I go, so the warmth builds gradually. It feels like a deep, spreading heat, like a hot water bottle held against the skin, rather than anything sharp. Nothing pierces the skin. If it ever feels too warm, you say so and I turn it down.

It all happens in a private treatment room, one client at a time.

With body RF you can add pressotherapy for £20, a relaxing compression treatment on the same visit. Add it when you book rather than on the day, because it needs extra time and my diary runs back to back.

How a body course is planned

One session warms the skin, and warmth is not firmness. The change comes from the skin’s own response, and it builds session by session. So I plan body RF exactly as I plan it for the face: a course of four to six treatments, seven to ten days apart.

After the fourth treatment I review the area with you. Where you are happy for me to, I take progress photographs as the course goes on, so that you are compared with yourself rather than with a brochure. Those photographs are only ever shown to anyone else with your written permission, and you set the scope of it. Some skin gets there in four; some benefits from one or two more. Nobody is booked for six by default.

Once the course ends, I usually suggest a maintenance treatment every six weeks, and I will tell you if your skin needs something different.

Aftercare around work and the gym

Body RF fits around ordinary life, but it asks for two days of a little care. Expect some redness or slight swelling, which usually settles within 24 hours. For 48 hours afterwards, skip the sauna, the pool and hard exercise, along with tea, coffee and alcohol, and drink more water than usual.

Otherwise carry on as normal. You do not need time off work.

What to expect from the results

Firmness changes over weeks, not overnight. Results vary between individuals and depend on your age, your skin, your lifestyle and how loose the skin was to begin with. Your skin also keeps ageing after the course, which is why maintenance matters.

RF is non-surgical. It does not take away loose skin, and it is not a replacement for surgery. Where there is a lot of loose skin on the tummy, the honest answer may be that RF is not the right tool, and I would rather tell you that at the start than halfway through a course.

Visiting from Preston, Lytham St Annes or the Fylde Coast

My treatment room is at 10A Freckleton Street in Kirkham, and clients travel in for body treatments from Preston, Lytham St Annes and elsewhere on the Fylde Coast. If you are travelling in, plan around the appointment length: 45 minutes for the arms, 90 for the tummy or thighs, plus any add-on.

Prices, add-ons and the details of my case study places are all on my RF skin tightening in Kirkham page.