Thermage CPT

Thermage CPT is the monopolar radiofrequency system Solta Medical introduced in September 2009, when the company launched it alongside the Fraxel re:store Dual at the start of a tour of US and European cities. The initials stand for Comfort Pulse Technology. The console drives a 6.78 MHz radiofrequency generator, delivers energy capacitively through a single-use treatment tip and cools the skin surface with cryogen sprayed from inside the handpiece. A 2018 FDA summary lists a maximum average power of 400 W and a touchscreen interface.

FDA filings name two handpiece models for the CPT, the TH-3 and the TH-4. Both carry the RF signal to the tip and can vibrate it, which is how the system holds clearance for both RF-only uses, such as noninvasive treatment of wrinkles and rhytids including the eyelids, and combined RF and vibration uses, including temporary improvement in the appearance of cellulite. Treatment tips come in 0.25, 3.0 and 16.0 cm2 sizes in several pulse count configurations. Each tip carries a memory chip that the company programmed for single use, so a console cannot treat patients without a supply of new tips. A procedure also uses a return pad, coupling fluid, skin marking grid paper and a cryogen canister that Solta's filings say lasts three to six procedures.

The CPT shares its 2009 FDA clearance, K090580, with the ThermaCool NXT. The NXT came first and the vibrating handpiece arrived with that clearance, so a vibrating handpiece and the CPT name on the console separate the two. Solta's successor, Thermage FLX, was cleared in 2017 and its FDA summary describes it as based on the CPT, which means FLX tips and CPT tips should not be assumed to interchange.

A buyer will want the console serial label, the handpiece model numbers, confirmation that the system boots and recognizes a tip, the cryogen and service history, and whether you have unused tips and their expiration dates.