EXCLUSIVE I tried the beauty treatment beloved by the Kardashians, and I was stunned into silence by the pain
Kim Kardashian and her sister Khloe have raved about their latest beauty obsession, Sofwave, to tighten and tone their face and body.
The SKIMS founder, 44, gushed over the treatment that uses ultrasound technology about a month ago on her Instagram Stories, sharing, 'Meet my new best friend! Not gonna lie…this hurts on the body but not on the face for some reason, but it's BEYOND worth it!
'Probably the best machine out there for lifting and collagen production.'
Meanwhile, Khloe, who got the procedure done at the same time as Kim, posted a video on her Instagram about the 'amazing treatment.'
'Who doesn't want to be lifted and fabulous? I am basically doing my entire body and face, because why not? We want that!' the 40-year-old said.
'And what's so cool about it, it has this amazing applicator, it doesn't break or damage the skin, there's no downtime and it's basically like a biostimulant.
Kim posted on her Instagram about using Sofwave, sharing, 'This hurts on the body but not on the face for some reason, but it's BEYOND worth it! Probably the best machine out there for lifting and collagen production'
'It's going to be repairing your collagen for the next six to 12 months.'
DailyMail.com was curious about the pricey procedure, so we booked an appointment at the glamorous Skinney Medspa in New York City's Upper East Side to test it out.
Depending on what body part you have done, Sofwave, an FDA-cleared, non-invasive treatment, normally costs between $1,500-$5,000 per session. A full face treatment costs $3,800 at Skinney, but they offer a 20 percent discount for new clients.
After experiencing it myself, it's hard to imagine this is the treatment beloved by the stars.
Preparing for Sofwave
First, you have to fill out the patient consent form that advises you that the risks associated with the treatment include 'burn, significant pain, tenderness, changes in skin pigmentation, persistent redness and/or swelling, ulceration/erosion and bruising.'
Following treatment, the consent form states there may be 'some redness and/or swelling in the treatment areas that may last for a few hours.'
It is also recommended to take Tylenol at least 30 minutes before the treatment, but even with Tylenol, some people who have experienced Sofwave said it didn't help ease the pain.
In my opinion, there's not much that can truly help ease the pain - unless you're knocked out with Propofol.
The RN who treated me, Jacqueline Piser, plastered a topical numbing cream all over my face and neck to desensitize my skin before we began the treatment.
While waiting 30 minutes for it to sink in - mind you, it felt like I got a fat lip from the numbing cream and had trouble making facial expressions - Piser shared more information and noted that every patient who follows the Kardashians on social media and saw that they posted about the procedure has asked her, 'What is Sofwave?'
'A lot of the time it kind of gives us a false image of what the device could do because we don't actually know everything that Kim K is doing,' she shared.
'So the expectations with it become really, really high. But nevertheless, it's still a really powerful device.
'If this is what we can assume she has been doing for several years, since it came out as a maintenance protocol - whether it's every three months or six months or once a year - it definitely can help with pausing the aging process and reversing the aging process if it was done correctly.'
Of course, I had to ask, 'How painful is it?'
The New York City-based Aesthetic Nurse Injector responded, 'Pain is subjective. So for someone, it could be a breeze, and I see that all the time that they don't feel any discomfort during the procedure.
'And for other people, at the lowest setting, it's the worst thing that they have ever experienced.'
The actual procedure
And so it began. I was given a blue gel stress ball to squeeze in one hand and a mini massager to hold in the other hand, which I had to place on my jawline as a distraction from the actual treatment.
Different methods of distraction are used during the procedure, but, for me, nothing was a good enough to take away from the pain that I experienced.
After more slime (ultrasound gel) was plastered on my face, Piser began with the neck area and started with 3.0 energy level.
She then proceeded to place the Sofwave applicator on my skin, began counting to six, and that's when I felt the device slowly heating up until it reached the pinnacle point - the highest level of heat.
But it doesn't stop there. After you feel the highest level of heat, it continues for another two seconds (so around five and six seconds) - like a bumble bee zapped you and it then rests on your skin - until the RN finally lifts the device off of your face.
As she counted to six, she would use her other hand to tap a different part of my face as another method of distraction. But, of course, that didn't help either.
She went on to move the device up the left side of my face - from the neck to the jawline to the cheek to the nose - and as she was doing it, each little section on my face felt different, sometimes with a mild pain, which was tolerable, to a feeling of excruciating pain.
The feeling, aside from the bumble bee comparison, is similar to when you accidentally touch a pan handle with your hand and it takes two seconds until your body processes it.
Since I obviously have a low tolerance for this kind of pain - despite getting tattoos and other beauty treatments such as CoolSculpting - I was only able to settle for the 3.4 (sometimes 3.6) energy level rather than the recommended 3.8.
Jacqueline told me that if the settings are at a higher level, we would do 'less passes,' but because the pain couldn't be tolerated, then she would have to do a lower setting with 'extra passes' to ensure the results would be effective.
After doing the left side of my face, she continued to the right side of my face, and it didn't get any better. I had to just suck it up and remind myself of the age-old adage, 'Beauty is pain.'
Following the lower face, I was told she would then move on to the forehead and around the eyes, which would be the last part of the face she would have to do.
I took a moment to breathe again, and then just sobbed.
The RN gave me a moment to myself as she walked out the treatment room. And when she came back, she brought along Skinney Medspa's Medical Director, Dr. Carlos Rodriguez.
He, along with the rest of the Skinney staff, went above and beyond to try to ease the pain - by offering cookies, apple juice...even wine.
He informed me he would inject parts of my face with Lidocaine (after asking for consent), so I would have a less painful experience.
Jacqueline then gave me an ice globe to try as a distraction instead of the mini massager, and she also held a mini fan close to my face as she continued the treatment on the upper half of my face.
The Lidocaine injections definitely helped, but I felt like they did little to calm my nerves or the pain when the procedure was being done on the sensitive skin around my eyes.
Post-Treatment
Normally, the face should take about 30 to 45 minutes, but in my case, it took over an hour and a half because I had to keep taking breaks.
The RN told me that I was a client who might've had one of the worst experiences with Sofwave and that the other three clients who had gotten Sofwave that same day didn't handle it as badly.
When I looked at my face after in the mirror, I did notice it was glowing and tightened - despite some redness on my face.
There was no pain afterward. The only feeling was the Lidocaine effects - in which your face is numb and feels very cold - and it didn't wear off until hours later.
I was informed that the results peak in three months, and that's when you really see the final result appear.
Despite the beauty treatment appearing to be more for adults in their 40s (like the Kardashians), Sofwave is for everyone, even if you're in your 20s, who is looking to lift and tighten a specific body part, including around the knees.
Before and after photos of reporter Diana Cooper with the Sofwave treatment (before is hair down and after is hair up). After, her face was glowing and tightened - despite some redness - but results will take up to three months
It can even help reduce the appearance of cellulite on the legs by improving skin laxity and collagen production, according to the team.
Ms. Piser explained, 'Sofwave is going to affect several depths on a deep level. It's going to tighten the fibers, tighten the muscle, help everything kind of stick back to our bones, and all of the tissues will kind of fuse together to become more lifted.
'And then on a more superficial level, it will help with texture, which is your fine lines and wrinkles with pore size.'
She went on to say that Sofwave is the 'best thing' that patients of an older demographic can do if they have a lot of sagging in the lower face and don't want to undergo cosmetic surgery.
People who have lost a lot of weight with Ozempic or similar weight loss drugs have even gotten Sofwave to help with their sagging skin.
When asked how often Sofwave needs to be done and how many sessions it takes, the RN said it depends on the severity of the skin being treated and a person's age.
People request Sofwave for all parts of their body - even to help with the appearance of the skin around the knees as well as cellulite on the legs
'We're talking people in their late 30s, early 40s, we want to do it, I would say once or twice a year to help with simultaneously lifting and preserving what they have.
'Whereas someone that's a little bit older, they probably want to do it either two, three times a year to help with the restorative process and then with the lifting process.'
She added, 'This is something that's more of like a commitment to your health and wellbeing and restorative regenerative practices rather than immediate solutions.'
While some people have spoken highly of Sofwave and have noticed real results, I think I will stick to doing another kind of non-invasive treatment due to the pain level and investment needed to keep up with the recommended treatments.
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