Who doesn’t long for Angela Bassett’s facial lineaments? But what hope is there for the surgery- and filler-averse? What do we have out there that offers the closest thing to a facelift without the scare or the scar? I’m here to analyze and hopefully reveal.

BTL’s latest treatment, EmFace, works in the same way as the familiar EmSculpt. Combining radio-frequency with high-intensity electromagnetic stimulation, EmFace contracts the forehead and cheek muscles to lift and tighten the face and brow without injections. I committed to 4 sessions of 20 minutes each, each session one week apart, a package recommended for noticeable results. One can choose to continue with more sessions for as long as one wishes and can financially permit (try to find a spa offering promotions on their package as it is astoundingly pricey).

True results are said to become apparent after 6 months, but from even the first session I began to feel a satisfactory “wakening up” of my facial musculature. A pointer, if I may. The radio-frequency part of the treatment creates a “controlled burn,” inviting the skin’s healing process to produce more collagen and elastin to heal the skin. Yes, sounds fabulous, BUT the “wound” created triggers a trauma response versus optimization in the skin. In the short run, the results may appear to be positive, but extended periods of “trauma” (as in the 20 minutes of an EmFace session) may wear out the skin over time and potentially produce entirely opposite effects. That is why, during each session, I always opted for no heat.

One point that gets me thinking. If Emface is a treatment that turns ON your facial muscles, where does that leave Botox, the treatment that turns them OFF, for those that use it?

Botox basically paralyzes the muscles injected, decreasing the appearance of lines and wrinkles at rest and with movement. Emface strengthens the outer portion of the forehead muscle to tone, tighten and lift the outer brows. And through the radio-frequency (heat) part of the treatment, Emface promotes collagen and elastin-growth, supposedly diminishing the appearance of lines at rest. It was explained to me that these benefits, however, don’t help wrinkles that appear with movement, which is why there’s no interference with Botox. And, statistically, patients who’ve had success with Emface have appeared to need less Botox due to the increase in collagen and elastin.

Botox might work well in conjunction with EmFace. But if MUSCLES are our best and most natural graceful-aging friend, I question whether Botox is truly working in our favor long-term. If regularly working out our bodies is crucial to maintaining a more vital, attractive and youthful physique as we age, why should we be excluding our visages? And why are some willing to succumb to torturous plastic surgery or dreadful injections which do not guarantee complete satisfaction (I personally experienced trauma with the “angry face” Botox left me with and vow never to do it again). Up-to-date, EmFace seems to be the closest thing to a facelift without the jabs, the knife, the chemicals, the downtime, the stress, the risk, the complications, and possible undesired outcomes. With EmFace, there is no physical or emotional trauma, only a decent dent in your pocket.

HOWEVER, another interesting point comes to mind. If EmSculpt, which uses the same technology as EmFace, has proven not only to yield better muscle tone but also enhance fat metabolism, then I would assume the results of fat loss from EmSculpt also apply to EmFace. Is losing facial fat a perk or a disadvantage? I wonder, and I reconsider 🤔😳.

On this point, I turn to a last resort. I call upon a much unacknowledged, TRULY valid, non-invasive, traumatic-free way to a more agreeable youthful face, and one that comes at NO cost whatsoever: