Thermage NXT

The ThermaCool NXT replaced the earlier ThermaCool console in the Thermage line, which the company first launched in 2002. Thermage announced the NXT on February 1, 2007, showed it at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting that month and began US shipments in February with worldwide availability in March. The company said the redesign gave it a faster operating system, a lighter handpiece with remote controls, a cabinet that used half the floor space of the earlier model, a larger screen and a coolant reservoir that let a treatment continue while the cryogen canister was changed.

The technology is monopolar, capacitively coupled radiofrequency. A generator Thermage described as running at about six megahertz sends energy through a disposable ThermaTip while cryogen metered by a valve in the handpiece cools the skin. In 2007 Thermage sold pre-sterilized tips in 0.25, 1.0, 1.5 and 3.0 cm2 sizes, each with a memory chip that blocks reuse after its procedure, so the console depends on a supply of new tips. Every procedure also needs a return pad and coupling fluid.

The 2009 FDA clearance K090580 covers the ThermaCool NXT System with a Standard Handpiece, a Multiplex 16.0 Handpiece, treatment tips, return pad, an optional electronic footswitch, cryogen canister and coupling fluid. That filing modified the Standard Handpiece to add user-selectable vibration. Solta Medical, the company Thermage became, launched the Thermage CPT later in 2009 under the same clearance, and later FDA documents call the CPT the predicate for the Thermage FLX. An NXT with the original nonvibrating handpiece is the earliest form of this console.

Before an offer, a buyer checks the console label for the model name, which handpieces come with it and whether the handpiece vibrates, the software screen, the cryogen module, any service records and whether current tips are still compatible with this console generation.