The principle is the same as BodyTite, scaled down. A thin cannula is inserted under the skin through an incision a few millimeters long, usually hidden under the chin or behind the earlobe. A smooth external electrode sits on the skin directly over the tip. Radiofrequency current passes from one to the other, heating everything on the path between them — the fat, and more importantly the fibrous layer that tethers skin to the deeper structures.
Both electrodes report temperature continuously, and the machine cuts power at the set point. On the face, where the tissue is thin and the skin is on show, that feedback matters a great deal more than it does on an abdomen.
Two effects. Heated fat breaks down and can be aspirated or reabsorbed, which reduces a small amount of jowl or under-chin bulk. And the fibrous layer contracts immediately, then remodels over the following months as new collagen forms. The visible jawline change comes mostly from the second.
Unlike the body probe, FaceTite is generally not used to suction fat through itself. Where fat needs removing, the surgeon usually does that separately with a small cannula.
What this does not do is move anything. A facelift lifts skin and the layer beneath it and removes the excess. FaceTite shrinks tissue in place. On a jawline that is just losing definition, shrinking in place is enough to look good. On a face where the tissue has genuinely descended, it is not, and the result will look like a slightly firmer version of the same problem.
There is one more thing that matters here more than anywhere else in this family: the branches of the facial nerve run through this territory. A cannula being passed under the skin of the lower face, delivering heat, is operating near the nerve that controls the corner of your mouth. This is why it belongs in the hands of a surgeon who knows the anatomy cold.
Ask for a straight answer on whether you need a lift instead. Ask the question directly, and take a second opinion from a surgeon who performs both facelifts and FaceTite. A clinic that only owns the device will only recommend the device.
Check who is operating: board certification in plastic surgery, facial plastic surgery, oculoplastics or dermatologic surgery, and real volume with facial RFAL.
Ask what they do about the facial nerve — how they stay in the right plane, whether they use a tumescent technique that lifts the skin away from deeper structures.
Ask to see their own before-and-after photos at three and six months, not one month.
Take photographs of yourself from the front and both sides in even light. You will want them later, because slow change is hard to see day to day.
Stop nicotine for several weeks before and after. It matters more on the face than almost anywhere.
Stop fish oil, high-dose vitamin E and similar with your own doctor's approval. Do not stop prescribed anticoagulants on your own.
If you get cold sores, ask about antiviral cover.
Clear your calendar for at least a week. Facial bruising is public.
Follow fasting and medication instructions exactly if you are having sedation.
Arrange a driver.
Come with a clean face — no makeup, no moisturizer, no sunscreen.
Wear a top that buttons or zips at the front so you do not pull it over your head afterwards.
Have your chin strap, cold packs and soft food ready at home.
You are photographed and marked, usually sitting up so the surgeon can see how the jawline and neck actually hang.
Anesthesia: most commonly tumescent local anesthetic with oral or intravenous sedation. Some surgeons use general anesthesia, particularly when combining procedures.
Numbing injections go in first. These sting.
Tumescent fluid is infiltrated under the skin of the treated area. The face feels cold, then tight and swollen. This fluid also helps separate the skin layer from the structures underneath, which is part of the safety technique.
One or two tiny incisions are made — commonly under the chin, sometimes behind the earlobe.
The probe is inserted and moved in slow, even passes, with the external electrode tracking above it. The machine monitors temperature at both ends and cuts power at the endpoint.
You feel deep warmth, pressure and movement. It should not be sharp and should not feel hot at any single point. Tell the surgeon immediately if it does.
Any fat to be removed is aspirated with a small separate cannula.
Incisions are closed with a stitch or two, or left to drain. A compression chin strap is fitted before you get up.
The procedure usually takes forty-five minutes to ninety minutes.
Day 0 to 2: significant swelling of the lower face and neck. It looks worse than you expect and is often asymmetric. Tightness, soreness, and a burning or tender feeling. Sleep propped up on two or three pillows. Cold packs as instructed. Some blood-tinged fluid from the incisions.
Day 3 to 5: swelling peaks around day two or three then begins to drop. Bruising surfaces and tracks down the neck and onto the upper chest. It goes through the usual color changes.
Day 6 to 10: swelling much reduced, bruising fading and coverable with makeup once incisions are sealed. Most people are presentable at around a week to ten days. Numbness of the chin and jawline is common.
Week 2 to 6: the tissue feels firm, lumpy and ropey under the skin, particularly under the chin. This is expected and it resolves. Numbness slowly returns. You start to see the jawline change.
Month 3 to 12: collagen remodeling continues and the result keeps improving slowly. Judge it at six months.
The compression chin strap is worn nearly continuously for the first several days and then at night for a week or two — follow the exact schedule you are given. It affects how evenly the tissue settles under the chin.
No strenuous exercise for two weeks. No saunas or hot tubs until cleared. Sleep elevated for the first week.
A more defined jawline, a cleaner line between jaw and neck, and less fullness under the chin. It is a genuine change and it photographs well from the side.
Realistic sizing: this is more than any surface device gives and clearly less than a lower facelift. Think of it as sharpening what you have rather than lifting it back to where it was.
The timing frustrates people. Swelling hides everything for two weeks, the tissue is lumpy for a month, and the tightening builds so slowly over three to twelve months that patients who do not have before photographs often struggle to see it. Take the photographs.
Who is happiest: people whose jawline was blurring but whose skin still had elasticity, and people who had a small under-chin fat pocket removed at the same time.
Who is disappointed: people with real jowling or a genuinely loose neck who chose this instead of a lift; very thin faces where contraction added hollowness; and people who expected the result at four weeks.
How long it lasts: the collagen change appears to hold for years, but your face keeps aging around it. Most people describe it as several years of benefit rather than a permanent fix.
If your only concern is a pad of fat under the chin with good skin, Kybella or a small liposuction is a smaller, cheaper intervention for the same complaint. If your concern is a lost jawline caused by volume loss higher in the face, dermal fillers placed correctly may do more, with no incisions.
There is no home version. A probe under the skin of your face is an operation.
Home radiofrequency and microcurrent devices for jawline tightening deliver energy from the surface at a small fraction of the power and cannot reach the layer this device treats. They are not a milder version of the same thing.
The genuinely non-surgical in-clinic alternatives are Ultherapy, which uses focused ultrasound from the surface, and RF microneedling, which delivers radiofrequency through needles into the dermis. Both are far gentler, both need no incisions, and both give a considerably smaller change.