The use of radiofrequency (RF) in surgical applications is far from new, with records of early work in basic surgical cutting going back some 50 years. Radiofrequency energy exposure is a well-established method for generating heat in tissue to incise, excise, ablate or coagulate the targeted tissue for a vast array of surgical applications. However, in the last 10 years there has been an explosion of RF applications in non-invasive aesthetic applications leading to many conflicting and confusing elements surrounding RF. In order to understand this widely used energy form the following review will discuss:
Radiofrequency is an oscillating current of electricity. Whereas electricity from your domestic outlet operates at around 50 Hz, the RF used in various clinical and surgical applications oscillate at rates between the frequencies ranges of 3 to 24 kHz, with the whole band of…
