I admit that I am a "newbie" as a commentator in the field of plastic surgery and related aesthetic diciplines. My principal background in journalism is in the high-tech trade press arena, where companies announce new products that, in many cases, turn out to be "vaporware" — prototypes of hardware and beta versions of software are brought to trade show floors and offered as new products.

In the aesthetic arena, I've come to understand that actual new product roll-outs are few and far between, and in some cases products that might have been shipped months ago are still promoted as new. "New" means different things in different industries. It can be a challenge to separate the truly new products from the products that are relatively new — and can still be peddled as new — but are, in reality, old products.

At this year's ASLMS in Kissimmee, Fla, I'm happy to report there are a few genuinely new products. The aforementioned Palomar Aspire platform is new. So is Parisian Peel's Elite Suffusion System with Revisage, and Home Skinovations Ltd's Silk’n device.


Suffusion offers a topical formula, combined with a method of electrically assisted percutaneous delivery of macromolecules — according to the company, the product has shown to be very promising in a just-completed scientific study. One of PSP's editorial advisory board members, David J. Goldberg, MD, has loaned his name to this effort, and presented the results of a clinical study showing an increase in collagen formation and increased patient satisfaction, as a result of the use of this product.

The Suffusion system offers a non-invasive method for achieving clinically validated dermal penetration down to the cellular level. The standard procedure consists of a Parisian Peel immediately followed by dermal infusion, used in tandem with the firm's Elite Ultrasound device.

I spoke with Alison Shaya, Parisian Peel's president, who says the system will sell for around $6,000. In addition, an e-poster has been published showing these clinical results.

Meanwhile, Home Skinovations Ltd announced at the ASLMS that its Silk’n device received FDA approval for home-based removal of unwanted hair under the direction of a physician. Silk’n uses the firm's proprietary Home Pulsed Light technology — the nature of which seems to be a carefully guarded secret among the company reps I spoke with today.

According to the company, "The efficacy and safety of Silk'n was tested in a multi-centerclinical study involving 4 medical centers in North America and Israel over the last 12 months. A total of 150 patients self treated with Silk'n in physicians' offices as part of the study, and the initial hair count, as well as the post-treatment hair count of these patients, was monitored by the investigating physicians."

The company claims that the users of the Silk'n system were by and large very pleased with the results. The results of a study using this product will be presented as part of the ASLMS scientific program on April 6th at 10:40 a.m. That's Sunday morning, when most of the attendees will be flying home from Orlando. Go figure.

I have included a photo of the Silk'n product with this blog entry, below.