Multicenter clinical perspectives on a broadband infrared light device for skin tightening.

Modalities for skin tightening include radiofrequency (RF) energy, lasers, and combination RF and diode lasers. A new broadband infrared light device (BILD) (Titan, Cutera, Inc, Brisbane, CA) targets water to achieve dermal heating and collagen remodeling for skin tightening. Although thousands of procedures have been performed worldwide with this device, only one article (to the author's knowledge) describing its performance in skin tightening has been published. Three US dermatologists report their experience with and provide their perspective on facial skin tightening with the BILD system. As early adopters, they each have 12 to 18 months experience with this system. One author (A.F.T.) treated 42 patients twice at 1-month intervals over 18 months. The mean improvement score was 1.83 (scale 0 to 4, with 4 denoting maximum improvement) with an average follow-up time of 3.7 months. More than 90% of treated patients showed visible improvement. No complications were observed and patient satisfaction was high. This paper presents the general consensus of the authors on patient selection and treatment protocol, their modifications of the manufacturer's treatment protocol, and the outcomes of 42 patients treated by one author (A.F.T.). The observations were gathered separately and turned out to be very similar. The recommendations are presented to help practitioners achieve consistently good results and avoid complications with the BILD procedure.