New Procedure Dubbed 'Inside-Out' Face Lift Claims to Smooth Skin

— -- There’s a new treatment for saggy, creased skin around the mouth that works from the inside out to tighten soft tissue and produce a smoothing effect on the surface.

Dr. Christine Lee, a dermatologist, helped pioneer a new treatment that’s known as the inside-out face lift.

The procedure uses a laser that delivers targeted heat from inside the mouth, Lee says.

Jacki Adams, a popular model during the 1980s, has posed on the covers of magazines including Vogue and Elle, but years of outdoor sports exposed her face to days of wind and sun.

With plans to return to acting, Adams hoped to smooth out some facial lines.

"I prefer to look good for my age, rather than look another age,” she said.

Adams visited Dr. Lee at her Walnut Creek, Calif. practice The East Bay Laser & Skin Care Center, Inc.

"When you go inside the mouth, what it does is causes immediate contracting, and that tightening makes this nasal labial folds by the side of the mouth seem like they're plumping up," Lee said as she performed the 30-minute procedure.

“Good Morning America” spoke to some doctors who were skeptical of the procedure. They said patients could get better results from lasers used directly on the skin, or from less expensive treatments such as fillers.

“The general consensus is that with laser therapies, that is best accomplished from the outside in not the inside out, but again, it’s a new procedure. I think people should proceed with caution until we know more,” ABC News’ Dr. Jennifer Ashton said.

Lee says her procedure “has some of the same effects a filler does but appears much more natural, and you're not having to inject a foreign substance in your face.”

Her patients undergo several treatments that cost about $1,500 per session. Results can last for months, she said.