Solta Medical was formed by the merger of two aesthetic device start-ups targeting the same customer with complementary technologies: Thermage in skin tightening and Reliant in skin resurfacing. Solta Medical’s product and marketing strategy has made it more immune in the economic downturn than its peers in aesthetic energy devices. What’s helped it most these past few years is its reliance on high margin disposables, rather than capital equipment, for the majority of its revenues.

In the red-hot skin cosmetic surgery market, Reliant Technologies and Rhytec aim for the market gap between ablative laser skin resurfacing and gentler, but less effective technologies. Their devices match the resurfacing and regenerative power of CO2 lasers, but with less tissue destruction and therefore shorter procedures and faster recoveries.