In Singapore, you may have heard of the Ultherapy facelift treatment before, as it has been gaining popularity in recent years. It gives you a naturally youthful facelift without the need for surgery. It lifts your skin from inside and boosts your collagen level to keep your face naturally firm and free from wrinkles. Best of all, the results of the Ultherapy facelift treatment are long-lasting.
But here is what you may not know: this non-invasive facelift treatment now has an Ultherapy Amplify protocol recommended by Merz Aesthetics (Merz), the pharmaceutical company behind Ultherapy. This protocol advocates that doctors deliver 800 lines or pulses of micro-focused ultrasound energy for an effective, long-lasting full-face and upper neck lift. In the past, 500 lines were the standard protocol.
To help us understand this better, we spoke with Dr. Terence Tan from Halley Medical Aesthetics, an aesthetics clinic which has won three Ultherapy “Golden Record Award” for the commitment and dedication that the clinic puts into delivering Ultherapy to its patients. Let’s find out more from him!
1. Dr. Terence Tan, why would you recommend Ultherapy as a facelift treatment for patients?
Many people want a facelift treatment but do not want the inconvenience, pain, and downtime often associated with plastic surgery. With Ultherapy, doctors are able to target the subcutaneous musculo-aponeurotic system (SMAS) layer to stimulate collagen for a non-surgical facelift. This is the same SMAS layer that was traditionally only accessible to plastic surgeons during open surgery for a facelift.
Ultherapy achieves the desired lift without the need for any surgical incisions through micro-focused ultrasound energy. It is the only non-surgical facelift treatment that is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), which makes it safe and effective at the same time. With Ultherapy, patients can go back to work, run their errands, or even pick up their children immediately after treatment.
Ultherapy is also very precise. The Ulthera device has a real-time skin visualisation feature that allows doctors to see the tissue layers during treatment. And with the transducers to discharge the micro-focused ultrasound energy at three specific depths – 1.5mm, 3.0mm, and 4.5mm, doctors are able to accurately and safely apply the energy to precise layers under your skin to kickstart collagen production.
2. Tell us more about the 800-line Ultherapy Amplify protocol.
This is the latest treatment protocol which recommends that physicians deliver 800 pulses of micro-focused ultrasound energy for a full-face and upper neck lift. This is more than the previous 500-line protocol, and this new protocol is expected to give patients a more dramatic lift.
This upgraded protocol also gives patients a more comfortable Ultherapy facelift experience. Studies have shown that decreasing the baseline ultrasound or intensity of each pulse contributes to the patient’s comfort without reducing clinical results. Therefore, with the Ultherapy Amplify protocol, patients are getting a higher density of pulses to their face and upper neck at an intensity level that is comfortable for them.
You can track that you are receiving the 800-line Ultherapy Amplify protocol with the help of the Ulthera device, which displays the number of energy pulses delivered throughout treatment. For us at Halley, the clinic assistant records the total number of pulses each patient received at three different depths on an Ultherapy patient record form. This form is then given to patients at the end of the treatment and offers our patients transparency on the number of lines they had received during treatment.
3. Ultherapy is a non-invasive facelift treatment, but why do I hear that it can be uncomfortable?
It is important to let your doctor know your concerns. Your Ultherapy facelift experience depends on how your doctor manages the treatment process. At Halley, we recommend that our patients come in 15 mins prior to their Ultherapy facelift to relax and prepare for the treatment. Our therapist will cleanse their face and apply numbing cream to the treatment area before we begin. We can also tune adjust the baseline ultrasound level energy to suit patient’s comfort level.
We may also use a cold air device to blow cold air on the patient’s face to reduce their sensitivity to the Ultherapy facelift treatment. This will make the treatment a more comfortable one.
Finally, the Ultherapy Amplify protocol of 800 lines addresses this concern. Decreasing the baseline ultrasound or intensity of each ultrasound pulse makes the Ultherapy facelift experience a comfortable one and will not reduce the clinical results. At the same time, the Amplify protocol delivers a higher density of micro-focused ultrasound energy to patients, which will amplify the results. As doctors, if we can make the Ultherapy facelift treatment a comfortable one for our patients and deliver a more dramatic lift at the same time, we should.
4. How long does the effect of the Ultherapy facelift treatment last?
The result is long-lasting. The firming and lifting of your skin is reported to last even up to 90 days following the treatment for some patients. But As we are ageing all the time, I would recommend a yearly refresh repeat of the Ultherapy facelift treatment combined with a monthly maintenance regime of a complementary face tightening therapy like Exilis Ultra 360 to keep pace with our body’s natural ageing process to maintain a youthful, rejuvenated look.
