What Is So Great About the Morpheus8?

Incredibly this question has two equally accurate and appropriate answers.  And they are:  Everything and Nothing.  Wait a minute, aren’t these two words opposites?  How can opposites be equally true?  Let’s look at the more perplexing of these extremes first.  How is it that there is Nothing great about the Morpheus8?  Isn’t this the premier radio frequency (RF) enhanced micro needling device in the United States today?  Yes, it is.  However, all that Inmode’s Morpheus8 machine does is create uniform controlled injury to living tissues.  And aren’t there already a lot of ways to do that? Yes, there are.  And intentionally injuring tissue has been done by creative minds with sometimes even devious devices ever since there have been people.  Yes indeed.  And in the extreme case we call this torture!  Let’s not go there.

Let’s go instead to appearance enhancement! The guiding aesthetic principal that is most often utilized in our craft is to injure the skin intentionally and uniformly.  If this is done in such a way that the body’s healing mechanisms can still repair the injured tissues then the end result is smoother, tighter, more uniformly supported and toned skin.  The inflicted injury should be strong enough to stimulate healing and remodeling, but not so powerful as to obliterate tissue.  Stimulate, not obliterate, is the operative principle.  

We have had techniques and machines that uniformly injure tissue in helpful ways for decades.  Dermabrasion, chemical peels, topicals like retinoids and antioxidants, ablative and non-ablative lasers, photodynamic therapy, focused ultrasound, microwaves, intense pulsed light (IPL), specific wavelengths of LED light, and plain micro needling are all examples of these modalities.  Each of these has been useful in triggering those magical repair mechanisms which are unique to living creatures and that can restore and enhance injured tissue.  In fact there is a place for each of these modalities in providing the very best results for our patients.  And frequently the very best results occur when a combination of treatment techniques are utilized over time.  In common with all of these methods, the Morpheus8 also injures skin.  So, couldn’t we therefore say that there is Nothing special about a Morpheus8 treatment?

WRONG.  The Morpheus8 is so very special because of its flexibility, universality of application both in the skin types which can be treated and the many places on the face and body that it can be used, adaptability to the thickness of skin and depth of treatment desired, wide range of power settings that can be applied, shortness of downtime, and effectiveness.  This machine can be used on anyone, and the results can be impressive.  The particular strengths of Morpheus8 treatments are the resulting smoothness of the skin’s texture and the impressive skin tightness that occurs.  Those of you who have known me over the years know that my favorite way to simultaneously improve skin’s texture, tone, and tightness with a single treatment has always been to utilize a fractionated CO2 laser.  And in fact, this may still be my favorite.  But this laser cannot be safely used on darker skin and the downtime is many days. One important difference between these two machines is that whereas the CO2 laser cannot be used to get rid of subcutaneous fat, the Morpheus8 can actually reduce unwanted under-the-chin and jawline fat.  And, because of the depths it can reach, it can also lesson small amounts of fat in other areas of the body.  Also, versus the CO2 the Morpheus8 is capable of greater skin tightening.  Perhaps the biggest advantage the Morpheus has over the CO2 is the much shorter downtime.  Two to four days is all that is needed to recover from the Morpheus8 vs one to two weeks for the CO2.  And, generally after an initial series of 3-4 Morpheus treatments,just 1 treatment a year is all that is required to maintain the benefits provided by this ingenious modality.

There will unfortunately be some degree of manageable discomfort during the treatment but minimal to no unpleasantness afterwards.  Our three excellent nurses, Tess, Vicki, and Taylor, and our gifted aesthetician Zac, as well as myself, are all well trained and experienced in doing Morpheus8 treatments.  And we all enjoy doing them.

If you are of the mind that some part of your face, neck, upper chest, or body could benefit from smoothing or tightening, you may well find that a series of Morpheus8 treatments is your answer.  Call us for a complimentary consultation.  We would be honored and delighted to assist in you achieving your appearance goals.

William A. Carter, MD