“Are you turning me right into a robotic?” I ask David Kim, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York Metropolis, as he locations an outsized adhesive bandage related to a twine on my decrease again…and plugs it in. No, this isn’t The Jetsons, and no, I’m not in an AI lab.
It’s the Wednesday earlier than Thanksgiving, and as a substitute of heading to the airport for a flight to see my household for the vacation, I’m at Dr. Kim’s workplace preparing for my first XERF remedy. (Don’t fear, I completely went dwelling for Christmas.)
XERF is a radio-frequency (RF) skin-tightening system by Cynosure Lutronic, which additionally makes the Genesis and PicoSure Professional brightening lasers, in addition to Readability II for hair removing. XERF made its debut in South Korea in 2024, nevertheless it wasn’t FDA-cleared to be used within the US till final August. In contrast to medicine, gadgets don’t want the FDA’s approval, which requires proof of each minimal threat and significant profit; however they do want its clearance, which requires proof of solely minimal threat or similarity to an present system.
Should you’ve ever engaged with (and even considered) in-office aesthetics content material, you’ve most likely seen XERF in your feed because the system arrived within the US. It already has celeb followers, equivalent to Kim Kardashian. (By the way, she additionally helped push skin-tightening gadgets Morpheus and Sofwave to prominence together with her social media thumbs-up, which some consider was not a wholly natural endorsement.)
All that stated, as a 35-year-old magnificence editor who has tried various in-office pores and skin therapies over the previous decade in an effort to flatten tremendous traces and tighten my jawline, I had no issues about attempting this new choice—with a board-certified dermatologist, after all. That they had me at “Korean” and “no downtime.” Right here’s the whole lot it is advisable to find out about XERF, together with its advantages, potential unwanted effects, pricing, and extra.
What’s XERF?
XERF, which is a shortened model of eXperience Exponential RF, is a monopolar radio-frequency system designed for non-invasive skin-tightening and rejuvenation. “In monopolar methods, vitality travels from a single remedy tip into the deeper layers of the pores and skin and exits by way of a grounding pad positioned elsewhere on the physique,” explains Jenna Queller, MD, a board-certified dermatologist primarily based in Boca Raton, Florida. “This enables for deeper penetration of warmth in comparison with different [systems].”
She continues, “What makes XERF distinctive and, actually, fairly attention-grabbing from a science standpoint, is that it makes use of twin frequencies—6.78 MHz and a pair of MHz—to ship vitality at a number of depths of the pores and skin concurrently.” Most different tightening gadgets use one frequency and may thereby work on just one layer of pores and skin at a time. Dr. Queller has not but invested in XERF for her apply, however she has reviewed its medical research.
“It’s a refinement of present radio-frequency know-how wherein they’re delivering radio-frequency vitality from the floor of the pores and skin utilizing two frequencies supposed to warmth a number of tissue depths concurrently,” says Shereene Idriss, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York Metropolis. In her opinion, although, “this isn’t precisely a brand-new scientific breakthrough. Radio-frequency vitality has been used for a lot of, a few years, if not many years at this level.” Like Dr. Queller, she has not introduced the machine into her workplace but: “I at all times hesitate to deal with my sufferers with a tool that hasn’t been round lengthy,” she says. “I typically wait not less than six months to a 12 months to ensure the outcomes are constant, and there aren’t any sudden dangers.”
However let’s get again to XERF, particularly, wherein the twin frequencies have two totally different jobs: tightening (focusing on tremendous traces) and lifting (triggering collagen reworking). As Dr. Kim explains it, “at 6.87 MHz, [the RF energy] goes very superficially, so it helps tighten the pores and skin, however 2 MHz goes down deeper” to the subcutaneous layer the place collagen is produced. The RF vitality is delivered into the pores and skin through an outsized flat tip that produces warmth whereas additionally emitting cooling gasoline for consolation—so there’s no numbing, needles, or ache. That final half is especially spectacular as a result of I’ve tried RF with microneedling up to now—just like the Cutera Secret RF—and it left me in tears. XERF didn’t. (Extra on that later.)
