For nasolabial folds would Exilis Elite be a good treatment?

Dr. Irwin
June 15, 2014
Hello, I am 46 years old. I have no wrinkles but the nasiolabial foulds bother me a lot. I do not want fillers or plastic surgery. In the beauty saloon they sugested 4 treatments with exilis elite. This is quite expensive, but if it could improve skin condition, I would try this. My husband says I am naive. Do you think exilis elite could lift the face ? Thank you for your answer.

I would have to respectfully disagree with your salon on this one.   Nasolabial folds that are prominent are caused by three things primarily……….. facial structure (your genes), loss of volume in the cheeks above the folds, and some loss of volume on the upper lip and sides of the lips.  In my opinion, you would be wasting your money since Exilis can’t replace volume and isn’t great for lifting the cheeks themselves.   It’s much better at, and usually used for, tightening and lifting the skin around and above the eyes and for the lower face around the jawline and under the chin.  Better would be 1-2 syringes of an appropriate filler for this area.  More on fillers here.

Exilis also also a separate attachment (head) for the body – the head for the face is smaller.   And……..the attachement head that is designed for the body has fairly advanced technology and specific settings for fat, in additon to skin tightening.

Also, I really think medical technology that has the potential to cause complications should be done in a medical setting by medical personnel.   You take many more unnecessary risks when you do these types of procedures in salons, where none of the personnel have medical training.

I’ve sometimes heard aestheticians claim that they are medical aestheticians, which usually means at some point they worked in a medical office, but not always.   I love aestheticians but none of them in the U.S. are truly “medical” because their licenses are not regulated by the medical board which governs MDs, RNs, PA-Cs, ARNPs, MA, etc.

Hope this helps,  Dr. I

Dr. Brandith Irwin, MD

Ask me your skincare question!

Hi, I’m Dr. Irwin. I believe that consumers deserve a medically trained and unbiased skin care advocate.

  • All our content is written and researched by myself.
  • My medical office in Seattle has treated thousands of patients for 15+ years.
  • This site is not affiliated or financially tied to any product, treatment or device.
Ask Me Something
SkinTour Skincare
One of the best investments in your skin is your daily skincare. Why? Because you can prevent many problems with blotchy skin color, lack of glow, texture, some types of acne, and fine lines with good skincare products. You can also correct some of these problems with effective skincare products. Great skincare is often more expensive because quality ingredients are expensive. Some companies spend on research/development which benefits all of us and adds to the cost. Are they worth it? In general - yes! I have handpicked some of what I consider to be the best skin care products, and offer them for sale on SkinTour's shop. This is based on my team and I's testing and research at our clinic. Many of the products are in my own regimen. What could be better than using skin care products a dermatologist uses?!
Browse Shop