Is ThermiSmooth the same as radiofrequency skin tightening?

Yes. ThermiSmooth is a brand of radiofrequency skin tightening: a handpiece delivers radiofrequency energy through the surface of the skin, heating the deeper layer so it builds new collagen and firms over the following months. The ThermiSmooth handpiece is temperature-controlled, reading the skin as it moves and holding the target temperature, so the deeper layer is heated evenly without burning the surface.

How many ThermiSmooth treatments do I need?

Most patients need three to four ThermiSmooth treatments, spaced four to eight weeks apart, for the first course. Each session adds to the collagen the last one started, so the full result shows after the series rather than after one visit. After the first course, a maintenance session every few months prolongs the result; the number for your skin is set at your consultation.

Does ThermiSmooth hurt?

No. ThermiSmooth does not hurt: the handpiece is warm, most patients describe the session as gentle warmth with light pressure, like a hot stone massage, and many find it relaxing. There are no needles, no incisions and no anesthesia. Afterward the skin is slightly pink and warm to the touch for several hours, without pain.

Is there downtime after ThermiSmooth Face?

No. There is no downtime after ThermiSmooth Face: you leave the office and go back to your day, and normal bathing, skincare and activity resume the same day. The treated skin may look slightly pink and feel warm for several hours. Nothing needs to be covered, and there is no recovery period between sessions.

How long do ThermiSmooth results last?

ThermiSmooth results build over the months after a series, as the new collagen matures, and are kept up with a maintenance session every few months after the first course of three to four sessions. Results vary between patients, and the practice publishes no fixed number of months: how long your result holds depends on your skin, sun exposure and how far the laxity had gone.

Who should not have ThermiSmooth?

ThermiSmooth is not recommended for patients with electronic implants such as pacemakers, AICDs, defibrillators or mechanical heart valves, or with other implanted devices such as neurostimulators, IUDs or cochlear implants, because radiofrequency energy can interact with them. It is also not recommended during pregnancy or over certain skin conditions. Tell the staff about any implant or condition at your consultation, and another treatment is discussed.

What is the difference between ThermiSmooth and ThermiTight?

ThermiSmooth heats the skin from the surface through a handpiece, with no needles and no downtime, for mild laxity. ThermiTight delivers radiofrequency from underneath through a thin probe under the skin, under local anesthesia, for laxity ThermiSmooth cannot reach; our board-certified facial plastic surgeon performs it at a $15,500 surgeon's fee. Fees are typical ranges; a more complex case can cost more.

Can ThermiSmooth be combined with Botox and fillers?

Yes. ThermiSmooth is combined with Botox and fillers at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery in two published packages: three full-face ThermiSmooth treatments with one syringe of Juvederm or Restylane, 40 units of Botox and a skincare treatment for $11,000, or three eyes-and-forehead treatments with the same injectables for $7,900. Heat firms the skin, Botox relaxes movement lines and filler restores lost volume.

ThermiSmooth or Venus Viva: which one?

ThermiSmooth or Venus Viva depends on the problem. ThermiSmooth tightens mildly loose skin with surface radiofrequency and no downtime; Venus Viva MD resurfaces the skin with fractional radiofrequency through tiny pins, for texture, acne scars, pores and pigment, with a day of sunburn-like redness. For the neck, the practice's comparison rates ThermiSmooth for mild excess skin and Venus Viva MD for mild to moderate.

ThermiSmooth Face in Beverly Hills | Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery

Q: How much does ThermiSmooth Face cost in Beverly Hills?

ThermiSmooth Face costs $3,500 per treatment in Beverly Hills at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery, or $10,000 for a series of three, the prices on the practice's published non-surgical price list. The neck alone is $2,500 per treatment or $7,000 for three, the face and neck together $4,000 or $11,500, and the eyes and forehead $2,500 or $7,000.

Q: Who is a good candidate for ThermiSmooth Face?

A good candidate for ThermiSmooth Face has early, age-related changes on the forehead, around the eyes, on the cheeks, around the mouth or on the neck: fine lines, wrinkles and mildly loose skin, in skin that is otherwise healthy. It suits every skin tone and type and patients who want no needles and no downtime. Jowls or a hanging neck fold need a lift instead.

ThermiSmooth Face in Beverly Hills

ThermiSmooth Face (temperature-controlled radiofrequency skin tightening for the forehead, eyes, cheeks, jawline and neck, with no needles and no downtime) at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery, the Beverly Hills practice of Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACS, board-certified plastic surgeon with two surgical residencies, head and neck surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery, Harvard-educated and UCLA trained

ThermiSmooth Face (temperature-controlled radiofrequency skin tightening, delivered through a warm handpiece moved over the skin) firms mildly loose skin and softens fine lines on the forehead, around the eyes, on the cheeks, along the jawline and on the neck, with no needles, no anesthesia and no downtime. At Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery, 421 N. Rodeo Drive, it is the skin tightening treatment in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, offered under the direction of Dr. Cat Begovic, a board-certified plastic surgeon whose rule for every energy treatment at the practice is that you are told plainly when tightening is not enough and a lift is the answer.

A session takes about 60 minutes and feels like a warm massage; your skin is slightly pink for a few hours, and you go back to your day. The published price is $3,500 per full-face treatment or $10,000 for a series of three, and most plans are three to four sessions, four to eight weeks apart.

15-minute Patient Concierge call, no obligation.

Medically reviewed by Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACS

Board-certified plastic surgeon, trained in both head and neck surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery. Harvard-educated, UCLA trained. Updated October 3, 2026

What makes ThermiSmooth Face at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery different

The rules behind a heat treatment offered at a surgeon's practice.

A surgeon's practice that says when heat is not enoughThe practice also performs the eyelid lift, the facelift and the neck lift, so when skin has gone past what tightening can do, you are told before a session is booked.

A temperature-controlled handpieceThe device reads the skin's temperature as it moves and holds the target, so the deeper layer is heated evenly and the surface is not burned.

A plan by areaThe eyes and forehead, the full face, the neck, or the face and neck together, each priced on the published list as a series of three to four sessions.

Heat, Botox and filler in one planTwo published packages pair three ThermiSmooth treatments with 40 units of Botox, a syringe of filler and a skincare treatment: $11,000 for the full face, $7,900 for the eyes and forehead.

What is ThermiSmooth Face?

ThermiSmooth Face is a treatment that tightens the skin of the face and neck without surgery. A small handheld device, moved over the skin in slow circles, delivers radiofrequency energy as controlled heat to the tissue beneath the surface, and that heat prompts the skin to build new collagen and elastin, so over three to four sessions the skin becomes firmer and fine lines soften, with no incisions, no needles and no downtime.

It is used on the forehead, around the eyes, on the cheeks, around the mouth, along the jawline and on the neck, for the early changes: forehead creases and frown lines, crow's feet and under-eye wrinkles, cheeks that have lost some firmness, and mildly loose skin along the jaw and neck, in every skin tone and type.

The same device treats the abdomen, arms, thighs and knees as ThermiSmooth Body, which has its own page. Texture, acne scars, pores and pigment are a resurfacing problem, treated at the practice with Venus Viva MD; our post on skin resurfacing versus skin tightening draws the line.

How radiofrequency skin tightening works

Radiofrequency skin tightening (also written radio frequency or RF skin tightening) heats the dermis, the deeper layer of the skin where the collagen sits, without breaking the surface. Held at a target temperature, the tissue contracts a little at once, and over the weeks that follow the skin lays down new collagen and elastin and becomes firmer and smoother. The change arrives session by session, which is why ThermiSmooth is planned as a series.

The ThermiSmooth handpiece is temperature-controlled: it reads the skin's temperature as it moves and holds it at the target, so the deeper layer is heated evenly and the surface is not burned, which is why a session feels like a warm massage. Our post on the three Thermi devices covers the family.

The limit is as plain as the mechanism. Radiofrequency remodels collagen, and the change is mild to moderate: it firms skin that is mildly loose or crepey and softens fine lines. It does not remove skin and does not move tissue that has descended; only surgery removes skin, so a fold that stays when pinched, a jowl or a band in the neck is beyond what heat can do.

What happens during a ThermiSmooth Face session

A ThermiSmooth Face session takes about 60 minutes in the office at 421 N. Rodeo Drive, given under Dr. Cat's direction, with no anesthesia. You recline while the handpiece is moved over each area in small circles and its sensor holds the target temperature; you feel gentle warmth and light pressure, like a hot stone massage. The neck is treated in the same session when it is part of your plan; the eyes and forehead alone take less time.

Preparation is short. Drink an extra four to six glasses of water in the 24 hours before your session, because well-hydrated skin responds better to the energy. Arrive with clean skin, without makeup, skincare products or jewelry, because metal interacts with radiofrequency energy, and tell the staff about any medical implant.

Afterward the skin is slightly pink and warm for several hours. You can bathe, use your skincare and go about your day.

ThermiSmooth around the eyes and forehead

ThermiSmooth eyes and forehead treatment covers the forehead creases and frown lines, the crow's feet and the fine wrinkles under the eyes, where the skin is thinnest and shows age first. The handpiece is small enough to work the skin around the eye, the session is shorter than a full face, and the published price is $2,500 per treatment or $7,000 for a series of three.

Two things it does not do. Lines that appear only when you frown, squint or raise your brows are muscle, and Botox treats them for three to four months; Dr. Cat injects Botox of the forehead and around the eyes herself, and the published eyes-and-forehead package pairs the two. A fold of skin hanging over the upper lid is hooding: radiofrequency cannot shorten a fold, so an upper eyelid lift is the answer, as our page on hooded eyes explains.

ThermiSmooth for the neck: neck skin tightening without surgery

Neck skin tightening with ThermiSmooth suits a neck whose skin has become mildly loose or crepey but still recoils when pinched. The handpiece treats the neck the way it treats the face, in three to four one-hour sessions four to eight weeks apart, then periodic maintenance. The neck alone is $2,500 per treatment or $7,000 for three; the face and neck together in one session are $4,000 per treatment or $11,500 for three.

A neck tightening treatment with heat has a ceiling. Our comparison of neck tightening treatments puts ThermiSmooth, Venus Viva MD and a neck lift side by side: ThermiSmooth for mild excess neck skin, Venus Viva MD for mild to moderate, a neck lift for anything more. A fold that stays lifted when pinched, or two cords that show when you clench your teeth, is skin and muscle, which our page on turkey neck explains.

ThermiSmooth Face at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery

ThermiSmooth before and after: what changes over a series

ThermiSmooth before and after photographs are read over months, not days. Many patients notice some tightening after the first session, but the collagen built over the weeks after each session makes the lasting change, so the fair comparison is a photograph before the first session against one a few months after the last. Look at the forehead creases and crow's feet at rest, the cheek in the three-quarter view, the edge of the jawline, and the neck in profile.

The practice's public gallery holds no ThermiSmooth cases, so before and after photographs of ThermiSmooth Face patients are shown at your consultation. Patient reviews of the practice are on Google; read them on our patient reviews page.

Your ThermiSmooth Face series, step by step

There is no recovery to plan around; here is the series, first visit to maintenance.

The consultation and skin assessmentYour lines, laxity and skin health are examined, implants and pregnancy are screened for, the areas are chosen (eyes and forehead, full face, neck, or face and neck) and the series is priced from the published list. Consent forms and the treatment instructions come before the first session.
The day beforeDrink an extra four to six glasses of water over the 24 hours before your session.
Session oneClean skin, no makeup, products or jewelry. About 60 minutes reclining while the temperature-controlled handpiece works each area.
The same daySlightly pink and warm for several hours; normal bathing, skincare and activity the same day.
Sessions two to fourFour to eight weeks apart, so the collagen from each session has time to build before the next.
The months after the seriesFirmer, smoother skin as the collagen matures, judged against your first photographs a few months after the last session.
MaintenanceA maintenance session every few months after the first course prolongs the result.

Risks and who should wait

ThermiSmooth uses no needles and no incisions; its risks are those of heat and of the energy.

What can go wrong

Pinkness and warmth of the treated skin for several hours
A burn or a blister, rare with a temperature-controlled handpiece
A flare of a skin condition in the treated area
Interference with an implanted electronic or medical device
A change milder than hoped, when the laxity had gone past what heat can do

How the practice reduces these risks

The handpiece reads the skin temperature continuously and holds the target, so the surface is not burned
Screening for pacemakers, AICDs, defibrillators, mechanical heart valves, neurostimulators, IUDs and cochlear implants, for pregnancy and for skin conditions
Clean skin, no products and no jewelry at every session
A plastic surgeon's assessment of whether ThermiSmooth is the right treatment at all
Sessions spaced four to eight weeks apart, so each one builds on the last

Who is a good candidate for ThermiSmooth Face?

The right candidate has the early changes, in skin that still recoils.

You may be a good candidate if

You have fine lines, wrinkles or mildly loose skin on the forehead, around the eyes, on the cheeks, around the mouth or on the neck
Your skin is in generally good health, of any tone or type
You want firmer skin without needles, anesthesia or downtime
You can commit to three to four sessions and to maintenance afterward
You expect a gradual, moderate change rather than a lift

Not yet, or a different plan, if

You have a pacemaker, an AICD, a defibrillator or a mechanical heart valve, or a neurostimulator, an IUD or a cochlear implant
You are, or may be, pregnant
You have a severe skin condition in the area to be treated
Jowls, a neck fold that stays when pinched, or a hood of skin over the upper lid is the complaint: those need a lift
The laxity is more than mild: ThermiTight or a lift is discussed instead

ThermiTight: the minimally invasive step up

For laxity of the face that ThermiSmooth sessions cannot reach, ThermiTight delivers the same radiofrequency energy from underneath the skin; at the practice it is a facial treatment only. A thin probe is passed just under the skin through a tiny entry point, under local anesthesia, and heats the tissue from within to a controlled temperature, so the skin contracts and rebuilds collagen after one treatment rather than a series; there are a few days of swelling, and the result develops over three to six months.

At Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery ThermiTight is performed by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon, at a surgeon's fee of $15,500. Fees are typical ranges; a more complex case can cost more. Where the skin is loose rather than lax, a lift is the better answer; the consultation decides which of the three steps fits your skin.

Is ThermiSmooth a non-surgical facelift?

No. ThermiSmooth is sometimes described as a non-surgical facelift, and the name promises more than heat can deliver: ThermiSmooth firms mildly loose skin over a course of sessions. A facelift, performed at the practice by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon, repositions the deeper layer of muscle and connective tissue that has slid into jowls and a loose neck, then lays the skin back over the new contour: it moves tissue, and no device does that. Filler along the jawline hides an early jowl for about a year; once jowls and a loose neck have formed, only a facelift moves the tissue back.

Volume is the third thing. Cheeks and temples that have emptied are not tightened back; they are refilled, with fillers or with fat transfer. At the consultation you are told which of the three, tightening, filling or lifting, your face needs.

How much does ThermiSmooth Face cost in Beverly Hills?

ThermiSmooth Face costs $3,500 per treatment at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery, or $10,000 for a series of three, the price on the practice's published non-surgical price list. The other areas are priced the same way: the neck $2,500 per treatment or $7,000 for three, the face and neck together $4,000 or $11,500, and the eyes and forehead $2,500 or $7,000. The number of sessions in your plan, and the maintenance schedule after it, are set at your consultation.

Two published packages combine ThermiSmooth with the injectables that treat what heat cannot. Three full-face ThermiSmooth treatments with one syringe of filler (Restylane or Juvederm), 40 units of Botox and a skincare treatment are $11,000; three eyes-and-forehead treatments with the same syringe, 40 units and skincare treatment are $7,900. On their own, Botox is $25 per unit and Juvederm or Restylane $1,250 per syringe.

Insurance and financing

ThermiSmooth is a cosmetic treatment and is not covered by insurance. To pay over time, the practice partners with Cherry, its primary financing partner, which offers Cherry Pay in 4 for non-surgical treatments on the day of your treatment, and also accepts CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit; see financing and payment plans.

Your consultation and first session

It starts with a free 15-minute discovery call with our Patient Concierge, who answers your first questions and books your consultation in the office at 421 N. Rodeo Drive, a short drive from anywhere in Los Angeles. There your skin is examined by Dr. Cat's rule for every energy treatment at the practice: the lines, the laxity and the skin's health decide the plan, and if a different treatment would serve you better, you are told so. Out-of-town patients consult first by private video consultation through OnPatient, the HIPAA-secure patient portal.

Unique needs, one plan at a time

I specialize in non-invasive cosmetic procedures, including ThermiSmooth Face treatment. I understand that every patient has unique needs and circumstances, which I will work with to ensure that your treatment leaves you feeling like the best version of yourself. I understand that getting a cosmetic procedure takes time, planning, and resources. I want you to know that my team and I are here to help you every step of the way.

Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACSBoard-certified plastic surgeon, Beverly Hills

Book a free discovery call

Ready for firmer skin without needles or downtime?

ThermiSmooth Face at a plastic surgeon's practice: a temperature-controlled handpiece, a plan by area, $3,500 per full-face treatment or $10,000 for three, a session that feels like a warm massage, and a plain answer when tightening is not enough. It starts with a free 15-minute discovery call.