In this guide16 sections
- Key Points
- How Long Does FaceTite Last?
- How Does FaceTite Work?
- What Affects How Long FaceTite Lasts?
- How Long Does It Take to See FaceTite Results?
- FaceTite Before and After: How Do Results Look Over Time?
- Will FaceTite Results Fade or Wear Off?
- How Can You Make FaceTite Last Longer?
- FaceTite vs Facelift: Which Lasts Longer?
- Is FaceTite Worth It? Who Is It Suitable For?
- FaceTite Side Effects and Risks
- How Much Does FaceTite Cost in London?
- FaceTite Consultation at Centre for Surgery
- Frequently Asked Questions
- FaceTite in London
- References
Key Points
- How long does FaceTite last? Several years. Clinics often quote three to five years, but published follow-up only runs to around two to four years, so no honest figure can be promised beyond that.
- FaceTite is not permanent. It tightens the skin you have today, and your face carries on ageing afterwards, starting from a firmer baseline.
- Skin quality, sun exposure, smoking and weight changes have the biggest influence on how long the result holds.
- The result builds slowly. Swelling settles within a week, the main tightening develops over three to six months, and modest gains can continue to 12 months.
- Some laxity returns over time, and the treated tissue ages alongside the rest of your face. That is not a failure of the treatment.
- FaceTite suits early jowls and mild neck laxity. Heavier sagging, excess skin or neck bands need a lift, which lasts longer.
If you are weighing up FaceTite for your jowls, jawline or neck, how long the result lasts is probably the question that matters most. The honest answer is that FaceTite results last for years, not for life: the radiofrequency tightens and firms the tissue beneath your skin, but it cannot stop the natural loss of collagen and elasticity that continues after treatment.
This guide sets out what the published studies show, what makes a result hold for longer or shorter, and how FaceTite compares with a facelift. If your main concern is sagging jowls, our guide to the options for the lower face covers the wider picture, and the facial skin tightening treatments guide sets FaceTite alongside the other approaches.
How Long Does FaceTite Last?
Most patients can expect a visible improvement to hold for several years. The figure you will see most often online is three to five years, and some clinics quote up to seven. The evidence behind those numbers is thinner than the confident wording suggests.
The longest follow-up in the published literature we have reviewed comes from a 2016 case series of 55 patients in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open ↗, in which patients were treated on the neck and lower face with radiofrequency-assisted liposuction. The longest follow-up was four years. At six months, 85% of patients were satisfied with their contour and skin tightening[1]. A 2020 multicentre retrospective study of 247 patients ↗ found that 93% were pleased with their result and would have the treatment again, with an average improvement of 1.4 points on the Baker face and neck scale[2]. A 2022 systematic review ↗ of radiofrequency skin tightening concluded that these devices produce measurable improvement in skin laxity with an acceptable complication profile[3].
What these studies do not give is a reliable measurement of how the result looks at seven or ten years. Most are case series from surgeons using the manufacturer’s device, with no control group, and the follow-up is short compared with the decades a face goes on ageing. That is why we say “several years” rather than a fixed number.
Is FaceTite permanent?
No. FaceTite heats the fibrous tissue and collagen beneath the skin so that it contracts and then remodels over the following months. That change is real, but your skin continues to lose collagen and elasticity with age, sun exposure and time. The treated area does not suddenly relapse; it ages alongside the untreated skin around it, and it does so from a tighter starting point than if you had done nothing.
How Does FaceTite Work?
FaceTite is a bipolar radiofrequency device made by InMode. A thin probe passes beneath the skin through a 2 to 3 mm entry point, usually under the chin and behind the earlobes, while a second electrode glides over the surface. The radiofrequency energy flows between the two, heating the tissue in between to a controlled temperature, with sensors monitoring the skin temperature as the surgeon works.
A 2019 review of percutaneous radiofrequency technologies ↗ describes how the energy targets the upper dermal collagen network, the deeper fascial layer and the fibrofatty septa that anchor the skin to the tissue beneath[4]. Some tightening happens straight away as the heated tissue contracts, and the more meaningful change follows as your body lays down new collagen. Our radiofrequency skin tightening guide compares this internal approach with surface devices and microneedling.
At Centre for Surgery, FaceTite is performed by our surgeons, usually under local anaesthetic with sedation as a day case. Where it is combined with more substantial surgery, TIVA (total intravenous anaesthesia) may be used instead.
What Affects How Long FaceTite Lasts?
No two faces age at the same rate, which is why one patient looks firmer five years on while another sees the tightening soften after two. These are the factors that matter.
Skin quality and age at treatment
FaceTite relies on your own collagen response. Good starting elasticity gives the treatment more to build on, while very thin or heavily sun-damaged skin responds less predictably. Most of our FaceTite patients are in their late 30s to early 50s, though the average patient in the 2020 multicentre study was 55 and older patients still improved[2]. Age is a guide rather than a rule.
Sun exposure
Ultraviolet light breaks down collagen, and the effect accumulates over a lifetime. In a study of 186 pairs of identical twins in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, greater sun exposure and no sunscreen use were linked with an older facial appearance[5]. A review of randomised trials found limited but supportive evidence that regular sunscreen reduces photoageing[6]. Daily broad-spectrum sun protection is the simplest thing you can do to protect a FaceTite result.
Smoking
Smoking slows healing and blunts the collagen response, which is why we ask you to stop for four weeks before and after treatment. It also ages the face over the long term: in the same twin study, the longer a twin had smoked, the older they looked, and facial lines were more evident in smokers[5].
Weight changes
Significant weight gain can stretch the tissue and refill the fat under the chin, while large weight loss can leave new laxity. Keeping a stable weight helps the contour hold. If you are planning to lose a lot of weight, discuss timing with your surgeon, as FaceTite is more predictable once your weight has settled. See also loose face and neck skin after weight loss.
How much laxity you start with
The milder the laxity, the more FaceTite can do. Where laxity is more advanced, the same treatment gives a smaller change that is easier to outgrow.
How Long Does It Take to See FaceTite Results?
FaceTite results develop in stages, so the way the face looks at two weeks is not how it will look at six months.
- Days 1 to 7: swelling and bruising peak on days one and two, then settle. Most people return to desk-based work after three to five days, and the sutures at the entry points come out at five to seven days.
- Weeks 2 to 4: residual swelling and numbness gradually ease. Gentle exercise can restart from week two and strenuous exercise from week four.
- Months 1 to 3: new collagen builds and much of the visible change appears.
- Months 3 to 6: most patients reach their final result at around six months.
- Up to 12 months: some people see a further modest improvement.
The full effect takes months to appear, so judging whether FaceTite has worked before the six-month point can mislead you in either direction. Our FaceTite page sets out the recovery day by day.
FaceTite Before and After: How Do Results Look Over Time?
Photographs help set realistic expectations, but they only show the moment they were taken. When you look at any FaceTite before and after images, check that the lighting and angles match, how long after treatment the photograph was taken, and whether other procedures such as chin and neck liposuction were done at the same time. The examples below show changes to the jawline and neck.
More cases are on our before and after photos page, and your surgeon will show you examples of patients with similar concerns at consultation.
Will FaceTite Results Fade or Wear Off?
Some of the tightening does soften as your skin ages, but the result does not vanish. What tends to happen is gradual: the jawline starts to blur again, and the skin under the chin and on the neck slowly loosens. A study of nine patients in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology shows how this matters in practice. All had developed jowl and neck laxity one to five years after a facelift, and radiofrequency treatment improved their skin laxity, with 55% rated as markedly improved by blinded investigators at six months and no adverse events, although nine patients is a very small group[7].
Deeper changes, such as descent of the cheek and loss of volume, carry on regardless, because FaceTite does not address them, and fat can still accumulate in the area if you gain weight.
Can you have FaceTite again?
Many patients ask whether the treatment can be repeated once laxity returns. There is little published evidence on repeat FaceTite, so the decision is individual. Your surgeon will look at how much laxity has returned and how your skin responded the first time. Some patients are advised to add a surface treatment such as Morpheus8 radiofrequency microneedling to refresh the skin, while others are better served by moving on to a lift.
How Can You Make FaceTite Last Longer?
You cannot control your genetics, but you can protect the result.
- Use daily sun protection. A broad-spectrum sunscreen on the face and neck every day is the single most useful habit.
- Do not smoke. Stay off cigarettes for at least four weeks before and after treatment, and ideally for good.
- Keep your weight stable. Large swings in either direction undo some of the contour.
- Follow the aftercare. Wear the compression garment as instructed, avoid heat such as saunas for two weeks, and protect the treated skin from direct sun for three months.
- Look after the skin surface. Surface treatments such as Fotona 4D laser or Morpheus8 can be planned alongside FaceTite for texture and fine lines, which FaceTite does not treat. Anti-wrinkle injections and dermal fillers can address expression lines and lost volume, usually some weeks after FaceTite.
FaceTite vs Facelift: Which Lasts Longer?
A facelift lasts longer, because it does something FaceTite cannot: it repositions the deeper tissues and removes surplus skin. Our guide to how long a facelift lasts explains that surgical results are measured in years to decades, depending on the technique. FaceTite tightens the skin you have from beneath, through tiny entry points, with a few days of swelling rather than a few weeks.
So the question is not which procedure is better, but which suits your anatomy. If your skin has started to soften and you have early jowls, FaceTite may be enough. If you have heavier jowls, obvious excess skin or platysmal neck bands, a mini facelift, mini neck lift or neck lift will give a result that FaceTite cannot, and it is better to know that before you choose a smaller treatment. Our FaceTite vs mini facelift comparison sets out where each one stops being the right answer.
There is one more thing to weigh if surgery is likely in the future. A 2026 review of 180 neck lifts in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal ↗ found that most patients had previously had neck treatments, and that those who had energy-based or other non-surgical treatments often showed scarring (fibrosis) in the tissues and needed longer operations. That group covered many different devices, not FaceTite alone[9]. If you are borderline between the two, ask your surgeon whether going straight to a lift makes more sense.
Is FaceTite Worth It? Who Is It Suitable For?
FaceTite tends to be worth it if you have early jowls or mild neck laxity, reasonable skin quality, and would rather accept a smaller change than have a lift. It sits between surface treatments and surgery: more than a device on the skin can deliver, less than a facelift. It is a good fit if you:
- have mild to moderate laxity of the jowls, jawline or neck, without prominent neck bands or obvious excess skin;
- are a non-smoker, or able to stop for four weeks either side of treatment;
- want a shorter recovery and accept a measured improvement;
- have had a facelift in the past and mild laxity has returned.
It is not the right choice if you want a dramatic change, have genuinely excess skin or deeper descent of the face, or have skin that is very thin and sun-damaged. If your main concern is fullness under the chin rather than loose skin, chin and neck liposuction alone is often the better choice, and our guides to a double chin and turkey neck explain how the options differ. For a wider look at non-surgical routes, see how to tighten sagging skin on your face.
FaceTite Side Effects and Risks
FaceTite is a minimally invasive surgical procedure, and serious complications are uncommon. A 2025 systematic review pooling 16 studies and 1,181 face and neck treatments with radiofrequency-assisted lipolysis found an overall complication rate of about 5%, with temporary weakness of the nerve that moves the lower lip in around 0.9% of cases[8].
Swelling, bruising, firmness and numbness are expected for a few days to several weeks. Prolonged swelling beyond six weeks affected 4.8% of patients in the 2020 multicentre study and firm areas 3.2%, all of which settled without further surgery[2]. Burns are uncommon but reported, which is why surgeon experience matters. The risk most relevant here is undercorrection: a smaller change than you hoped for, which is the commonest reason people are disappointed. We list the full risks on our FaceTite treatment page.
How Much Does FaceTite Cost in London?
The cost depends on how many areas are treated, for example the jowls and jawline, the neck or both, and whether it is combined with Morpheus8, chin and neck liposuction or another procedure. Your surgeon agrees your plan at consultation and your price is confirmed in writing. Current prices are on our Skin and Aesthetics price list, and the FaceTite cost guide explains what affects them. Finance options are available through our finance options page, subject to status.
FaceTite Consultation at Centre for Surgery
At your consultation you see one of our surgeons, who examines your jowls, jawline and neck, the neck muscle, any fat under the chin and the quality of your skin. That decides whether FaceTite, FaceTite with Morpheus8 or chin and neck liposuction, or a lift is the honest answer for your face. If another procedure or no treatment would suit you better, we will tell you.
Our surgeons are GMC-registered, the surgeon who assesses you is the surgeon who treats you, and the Baker Street hospital is regulated by the CQC (see our CQC rating). We recommend a two-week cooling-off period between consultation and treatment, so that you have time to decide without pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does FaceTite last?
Results typically last for several years. Clinics often quote three to five years, but published follow-up runs to around two to four years, so no precise figure can be promised. The treated skin keeps ageing afterwards, and factors such as sun exposure, smoking, weight change and the amount of laxity you started with all affect how long the improvement looks worthwhile.
Is FaceTite permanent?
No. FaceTite tightens the skin and builds new collagen, but ageing continues after treatment. Some laxity returns over time. The benefit is that you age from a firmer starting point.
How long does FaceTite last on the neck?
There is no separate figure for the neck. Published studies usually report neck and jawline treatment together, and the same factors apply: skin quality, sun, smoking and weight. Neck skin is thin and mobile, so mild laxity gives more predictable results. Visible neck bands or excess skin need a neck lift, which lasts longer than FaceTite.
How long does a facelift last?
A facelift usually lasts considerably longer than FaceTite, with results measured in years to decades depending on the technique, because it repositions deeper tissue and removes excess skin. You still keep ageing afterwards. Our guide to how long a facelift lasts compares techniques in detail, and your surgeon can tell you which procedure matches your anatomy.
What is better than FaceTite?
It depends on your face. For early laxity, FaceTite may be enough. For heavier jowls, excess skin or neck bands, a mini facelift, neck lift or facelift gives a stronger, longer-lasting result. For fullness under the chin with firm skin, chin and neck liposuction alone is often more suitable. A consultation establishes which group you fall into.
Is Morpheus8 or FaceTite better?
They work at different depths. Morpheus8 delivers radiofrequency through microneedles from the surface and suits skin texture, fine lines and mild laxity, usually as a short course. FaceTite works beneath the skin in a single session and is used for more laxity. The two are often combined in one visit. Our guide to choosing Morpheus8 or FaceTite compares them in depth.
How long does it take to see FaceTite results?
Some tightening shows within the first few weeks as the heated tissue contracts. Most of the visible change appears between months one and three, the final result is usually reached at around six months, and some patients see modest further improvement up to 12 months.
Can you have FaceTite more than once?
Sometimes. There is little published evidence on repeating FaceTite, so your surgeon decides case by case, looking at how much laxity has returned and how your skin responded the first time. Some patients repeat the treatment or add Morpheus8, while others move on to a lift.
How much does a FaceTite treatment cost?
The price depends on the areas treated, whether it is combined with other procedures and the type of anaesthetic. Your surgeon confirms the price in writing after your consultation, and current prices are on our Skin and Aesthetics price list. Finance is available, subject to status.
FaceTite in London
If you would like to know whether FaceTite would suit your jowls and neck, and how long you could expect the result to last in your case, a consultation with one of our surgeons will give you an honest answer. Find out more about FaceTite at Centre for Surgery.
Phone: 020 7993 4849 | Address: 95–97 Baker Street, Marylebone, London W1U 6RN
Contact us to schedule a consultation
References
- Keramidas E, Rodopoulou S. Radiofrequency-assisted liposuction for neck and lower face adipodermal remodeling and contouring. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open 2016;4(8):e850. doi:10.1097/GOX.0000000000000809 ↗
- Dayan E, Rovatti P, Aston S, et al. Multimodal radiofrequency application for lower face and neck laxity. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open 2020;8(8):e2862. doi:10.1097/GOX.0000000000002862 ↗
- Rohrich RJ, Schultz KP, Chamata ES, et al. Minimally invasive approach to skin tightening of the face and body: systematic review of monopolar and bipolar radiofrequency devices. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2022;150(4):771–780. doi:10.1097/PRS.0000000000009535 ↗
- Locketz GD, Bloom JD. Percutaneous radiofrequency technologies for the lower face and neck. Facial Plastic Surgery Clinics of North America 2019;27(3):305–320. doi:10.1016/j.fsc.2019.03.003 ↗
- Guyuron B, Rowe DJ, Weinfeld AB, et al. Factors contributing to the facial aging of identical twins. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2009;123(4):1321–1331. doi:10.1097/PRS.0b013e31819c4d42 ↗
- Iannacone MR, Hughes MCB, Green AC. Effects of sunscreen on skin cancer and photoaging. Photodermatology, Photoimmunology and Photomedicine 2014;30(2–3):55–61. doi:10.1111/phpp.12109 ↗
- Demesh D, Cristel RT, Gandhi ND, et al. The use of radiofrequency-assisted lipolysis with radiofrequency microneedling in premature jowl and neck laxity following facialplasty. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology 2021;20(1):93–98. doi:10.1111/jocd.13824 ↗
- Guo X, Yan M, Zhao M, et al. Temporary orbicular oculi palsy after radio-frequency assisted liposuction (RFAL) combined with transconjunctival lower blepharoplasty: case report and systematic review of complication. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2025;49(13):3605–3617. doi:10.1007/s00266-025-04901-0 ↗
- O’Daniel TG, Patton S. Neck lift after nonsurgical treatments: fibrosis, fat loss, and surgical complexity. Aesthetic Surgery Journal 2026;46(4):372–383. doi:10.1093/asj/sjaf149 ↗
