Tixel – Thermo-Mechanical Ablative Treatment

We are now part of Sk:n

We are pleased to announce that from August 2nd 2018 Cellite has become part of award-winning clinic group, sk:n.
Click here to explore Tixel treatments at Sk:n clinics

 

Cellite Clinic is proud to be the first clinic in the UK to offer the Tixel treatment since May 2017. Dr Judodihardjo, the medical director of Cellite Clinic, is the UK and Ireland trainer for Tixel. He also runs workshops all over the world on Tixel. He explains below why he thinks this treatment is so good.

What is Tixel treatment?

Tixel is a new treatment that can be used to tighten the skin, improve the appearance of scars and to help topical treatments to penetrate the skin. This treatment uses a heated metal plate to deliver the required energy directly to the skin surface. It is a new treatment method that does not utilise a laser, intense light, nor a radio frequency device.

How is Tixel treatment done?

After a medical consultation to determine your suitability, you can book for the treatment. The treatment is relatively painless. Normally no anaesthetic is required at all.

It is important that when you come for this treatment, your skin has been cleaned properly and there must be  no make-up (including mascara) left on the skin.

Just before the treatment, your skin will be cleaned with an antiseptic wipe. Once the machine has reached the operating temperature, the treatment can begin. The hot metal plate packed with tiny pyramidal shapes will be applied to your skin for a very short period of time. When we say “short period”, it is very short, anytime between 6 to 18 thousandth of a second. This is so quick that even before your nerves can register the heat, the hot metal plate would have been withdrawn. The metal plate size is 1 cm by 1 cm. Thus to cover a large area like the face, your skin will be touched by this metal plate about 300 times. That’s it! Treating an entire face may take only 15 to 20 minutes to complete.

Does Tixel work?

Yes, Tixel treatment certainly does work. We have many happy patients who have had successfully completed this treatment. In some patients, results can be seen in just 4 weeks after the first treatment.

1. 1. The effects of Tixel treatment will vary according to the settings of the treatment.
      Ablative treatment (contact time of 12 mS and above):
      This setting gives the most effective results for skin tightening and scar treatment. At this setting the skin will develop small crusting that can take about one week to clear. However, after two days this crusting can be covered with a good make-up. Therefore, you may only need a weekend to hide away if you do not feel confident in meeting others. The result of ablative treatment will be similar to deep chemical peel or fractional CO2 laser resurfacing treatment.
   2. Non-Ablative treatment (contact time of 8 mS to 10 mS)
      This treatment can give the same skin tightening result as the ablative treatment but will require more treatments to achieve it. This setting is suitable for patients who cannot take any time off to recover. You can put on your usual make-up right away after the treatment. The skin tightening result of non-ablative treatment will be like medium depth chemical peel but without the recovery time associated with chemical peels.
   3. “Open-Channel” treatment (contact time of 4 mS to 6 mS)
      This setting is useful for treating skin pigmentations like Melasma or Post-Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation. Tixel will make the skin porous for about 6 hours and thus allowing topical treatment to penetrate the skin. We found that combining Open-Channel Tixel setting with drugs such as Hydroquinone is very effective for treating skin pigmentations.

What are the side effects of Tixel?

This treatment is reasonably comfortable. Generally no anaesthetics is needed. If you are very sensitive to pain then taking some over the counter pain relief before having the treatment should suffice. Almost all of our patients do not need any pain relief.

After the treatment, your skin will be red. It will feel hot, stingy and tight for a few hours. After this there should be no more unusual sensation and you will forget that you just had Tixel treatment.

If you have the ablative treatment, the treated area may swell. The redness will continue for a few days to weeks just like after the deep chemical peels or laser resurfacing treatment. Small crusting will also appear after a few days. You may start to use make-up to cover this redness and crusting just two days after the treatment.

You must not touch the treated area unnecessarily in order to avoid getting the skin infected. Skin colour changes after the treatment may also appear in some skin types.

You must allow the crusting to fall off by itself in about 7 days. Scrubbing off the crusting is to be avoided totally or permanent scarring may form.

Any treatment around the mouth may trigger cold sores to reappear but this should heal as normally.

Which area can be treated with Tixel?

Tixel can be used to treat any areas.

How much does Tixel treatment cost?

Ablatiave or Non-Ablative treatment:
For an area the size of a face, the fee is £800 per treatment.
Smaller areas like one cheek or both top and bottom of both eye-lids, the fee is £300 per treatment.

“Open-Channel” / “Tixel Glow” treatment:
For an area the size of a face, the fee is £300 per treatment plus the cost of the medications.