8.4 Renuvion®—minimal depth of thermal effect

Not all RF energy is created equal. Experienced RF users know that you can achieve very different tissue results at the same power setting by simply changing from an RF waveform designed for cutting to an RF waveform designed for coagulation. The proprietary oscillating waveform of the Renuvion® device has much lower current than typical monopolar RF devices. In most cases, the current of the Renuvion® device is an order of magnitude lower. The current of the Renuvion® waveform flows through the conductive plasma beam to create additional beneficial Joule heating of the target tissue. However, since the current is so low, it is dispersed before it is able to penetrate deep into the tissue. This allows for soft tissue heating with minimal depth of thermal effect. This low current also prevents the tissue from being overtreated when subjected to multiple treatment passes. As the tissue is treated, it coagulates and desiccates resulting in an increase in tissue impedance. The lower current of the Renuvion® device is unable to push through higher impedance tissue. As the Renuvion® device passes in proximity to previously

#### Figure 7.

The Renuvion® plasma beam quickly alternates between treating the different tissues surrounding the tip of the device. Instead of treating all tissue in the field, the approach is fractional. By targeting low impedance targets, tissue shrinks well without excessive heating.

Helium Plasma-Driven Radiofrequency in Body Contouring DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.84207

Figure 8. Output power vs. impedance curves for subdermal energy devices.

treated tissue, the energy will follow the path of least resistance (lower impedance) and preferentially treat previously untreated tissue. This prevents overtreating of any one particular area with multiple passes and maximizes the treatment of untreated tissue. Figure 8 shows a comparison of power versus impedance curves for bulk heating devices versus the plasma fractional RF device.
