My Ultherapy Experience

My first aesthetic treatment was doing a dermal filler more than 1.5 years ago.

I did it because I was distressed over my tear troughs. I had sought ways to resolve them using different types of eye creams and nothing worked.

My trawling of the Internet in search for a face-lift had aesthetic treatment websites and blog pages found their way to me and that was how I started exploring these non-surgical options.

I went back to Dr Siew Tuck Wah of Radium Medical Aesthetics for an Ultherapy treatment after thinking over Threadlift for 3 months.

This time, it was because I could see how saggy my cheeks were. It felt sad to see my own reflection in the shopping mall mirrors.

Although Threadlift offered a more dramatic and instant result, I was only brave enough to do Ultherapy.

So what is Ultherapy?

Ultherapy is the only FDA (Food and Drug Administration)-cleared, non-invasive procedure that lifts and tightens the skin on the neck, chin and brow and improves lines and wrinkles. 

A handpiece which is connected to the Ultherapy machine would be placed on the area to be treated. Ultrasound energy will be delivered via the handpiece to the different layers of the skin to stimulate the production of collagen. The machine has a screen which provides the doctor with real-time visualisation so that he is able to see the layer of tissue he is treating for specific targeting. 

Ultherapy is able to reach our skin at 3 different depths: 1.5mm, 3.0mm and 4.5mm. Being that precise and able to reach 4.5mm is something that most older face-lift machines could not do.

I had read up on Hifu and Thermage as well but Ultherapy seemed to be all the rage so Ultherapy it was.

Dr Siew did warn that Ultherapy was a painful treatment. According to him, he had patients who cried because of the pain. It sounded horrendous but the desire to have a lifted face triumphed. I was given some panadols to take while waiting for the treatment to commence.

After the nurse cleansed my face, I took a quick photo before anything was applied on my face.

Then my face was numbed and cling-wrapped to prepare for the treatment. 

If only my skin is always so tight!

Right before the treatment

I was amused to see markings mapped on my face - meant for Dr Siew to treat specific areas.

The treatment itself took about an hour. When Dr Siew first started the treatment, it really hurt. I felt like there was a group of red ants biting simultaneously on the area that the handpiece was placed! According to Dr Siew, the device was reaching a depth where the numbing cream could not reach. I bit the bullet and allowed the treatment to take its course.

In all, Dr Siew ran the handpiece over my face and jaw 3 times. Each time, the pain was not as strong as the previous. In fact, other than the very first time the handpiece was placed on my lower cheek, the rest were relatively painless. He was surprised when I said I felt nothing as he checked with me the next time he placed the handpiece on my cheek.

Dr Siew talked non-stop to me to distract me from the pain of Ultherapy. He talked about how Ultherapy was the gold standard for face-lift, how he himself uses the device as he didn't trust other doctors to do it for him, how Caucasian women prefer dermal fillers as they are more concerned about volume loss, how Ultherapy is better than Threadlift, how he was one of the first doctors to use Ultherapy machines and he had Westerners flying in to Singapore for the treatment as they wanted an FDA treatment, and other things that I have largely forgotten. 

In between the treatment, Dr Siew explained that Ultherapy is very versatile. Besides lifting and tightening my lower cheeks and corners of my eyes, Ultherapy can be used to target areas to lose volume as well, and he targeted volume loss for my jawline so that my double chin would not be so obvious.

After the treatment, he said his 'thank you' and left the room after informing me that I would be back for a review in two months.

Right after the treatment. All red.

In the resting room waiting for the swelling and redness to subside

It is said that there is no downtime for Ultherapy, meaning you can still go out and carry out your usual activities after the treatment, but I had this slight pain and soreness along my jawline for a few weeks. The first few days, I had to be gentle when I cleanse my face. Even after a month or two, I still felt that my jawline nearer to the ears were very sensitive and a bit sore. 

One day after the treatment, my face swelled like a pig's head! This is not 'downtime', meh?

After two months, I went back for a review with Dr Siew. The nurse took pictures of my face. After that, I met Dr Siew who reviewed the pictures with me. He pointed out that the shape of the face did slim a bit and the corners of my eyes were a little lifted. Although I agreed that those minor improvements were evident, I bluntly told Dr Siew that I was disappointed that the effect was not significant. He reassured me that there would still be improvements in the 3rd and 4th month and the effect would continue for the next 6 months before it starts to wear off in the 6 months after that.

I went away disappointed, finding it hard to believe that anything dramatic would take place.

A couple of weeks ago, I met up a friend who kindly commented that I looked younger. She was a nice person so I felt she must have just been polite.

Then, last Sunday, I saw on Facebook a lady that I had been following show her Ultherapy results after two months. I thought to myself: hmm ... my results were not that fantastic.

Anyway, I dug out the photo I took on the day I did Ultherapy, 13 October 2019. 

After that, I took a picture of myself and put them side by side for comparison:

13 Oct '19                                     16 Feb '20

My, oh my! There were some significant results!

I looked so saggy in the 'Before' picture but my skin in the 'After' picture was significantly tightened and lifted. Even the face shape has become that of a slimmer one! While my jowls and marionette lines are not eliminated, they are less pronounced now.

Actually, even my jaw lines from the side view are more defined now. For someone as fussy as me, when I mean 'defined', it means 'jaws are clearly angled'. 

The treatment cost me $4180 or thereabout. 

I have seen ads for half-priced Ultherapy treatment. Upon checking, these treatments only serve certain parts of the face eg. eyelids and cheeks. If you are looking for an Ultherapy treatment, do remember to enquire if the price is for full-face and upper-neck treatment.