Who Should Get Ultherapy?

At Radiant Skin Dermatology and Laser in New York, NY, we offer several aesthetic services to boost your skincare game. Among the most popular is Ultherapy, a revolutionary skin tightening treatment to help you look years younger. Today, we reveal who is the best candidate for this type of aesthetic service.

Signs You Are a Good Candidate for Ultherapy

You Are at Least 30 Years Old

You may be a good candidate for Ultherapy if you are at least 30 years of age. Wrinkles and loose and sagging skin can start to form at any age. However, it’s not until around age 30 that your skin’s collagen production rate slows to the point that you need professional skincare treatments.

If you’re in your 30s, this boost to collagen production can smooth and lift your skin to the point that you look like you’re in your 20s. If you’re in your 60s, you can look like you’re in your 40s.

Your Wrinkles Aren’t Caused By Hyperdynamic Muscles

If you’re concerned about wrinkles that aren’t caused by hyperdynamic muscles, you’re probably a good candidate for this treatment. It’s the perfect treatment for most types of wrinkles because most types of wrinkles are caused by collagen loss. Collagen is the protein in your skin that keeps it lifted, tight, smooth, and hydrated.

When your collagen is weakened due to age, smoking, sun damage, chronic dehydration, or a poor diet, your skin sags and wrinkles. The only way to reverse these effects is to receive professional anti-aging treatments to boost your skin’s production of healthy collagen. This will give your skin the volume boost it needs to smooth wrinkles.

You Understand What the Treatment Will Be Like

Having realistic expectations about the treatment is another sign you’re a good candidate. During your initial consultation, we will provide you with a thorough overview of what to expect before, during, and after your skin tightening session.

Before your treatment starts, we will cleanse the area targeted for treatment. Then, we will apply an ultrasound gel to the area you have targeted for treatment. Once we view your skin through a special device, we will know exactly how to calibrate the Ultherapy device to your unique needs. Once it’s calibrated, your skin will be penetrated by sound energy, which is an entirely painless treatment.

You Have Realistic Expectations About the Results

One of the best things about this treatment is how soon you see the results. Depending on your overall health and skin health when you receive treatment, you can expect to see the initial results of treatment within 72 hours. The final results of treatment can be seen within four to six weeks.

While four to six weeks may seem like a long time to wait for smooth skin, compare it to the results of an invasive procedure. It takes between six and 12 months to see the results of a facelift due to extensive swelling. Attempting at-home anti-wrinkle treatment is worse because the products often aren’t effective at all.

You Can Follow All Pre-Treatment Instructions

While the preparation for this treatment is minimal, the steps you must take before treatment are important. If you feel comfortable complying with all instructions, you should probably get this treatment. To prepare for treatment, you must abstain from consuming alcohol and tobacco products for six weeks.

Additionally, you should drink at least half a gallon of water daily and eat well-balanced meals. If your skin is healthy, you will see the results sooner and the results will last longer. The two most important things you can do to ensure your skin health is to stay hydrated and make sure it gets all the nutrients it needs.  

You Can Follow All Post-Treatment Instructions

In contrast to invasive skin tightening procedures, there aren’t a lot of post-treatment rules you have to follow for this treatment. The most important rules you must adhere to are protecting your skin from the sun, eating healthy foods, and staying hydrated. You should also stop smoking and drinking alcohol for at least the first four to six weeks after treatment.

If you don’t feel confident that you can go a month without smoking or drinking, you may still be a good candidate for this treatment. However, you must understand that it will take longer to see the results of treatment, they won’t last as long, and they may not be as dramatic. Both alcohol and nicotine destroy the collagen required to keep your skin tight, smooth, and beautiful.

You Aren’t Healthy Enough for an Invasive Procedure

Another sign that you should get this treatment is your primary care physician has deemed you too unhealthy for a facelift or other invasive skin tightening procedure. To be a good candidate for such a procedure, your heart and lungs have to be in great shape and your skin has to be fairly elastic and healthy.

With ultrasound skin tightening, we won’t put you through an electrocardiogram to ensure your heart is healthy. We won’t test your lung capacity. The only reason your medical history is so important is so we ensure that ultrasound skin tightening is the right aesthetic treatment for you.

You Value Your Time

One of the strongest signs that you should get this treatment is that you value your time very highly. If you opted for an invasive skin tightening procedure, like a facelift, your skin would take at least six to 12 months to heal. During at least the first six months, the targeted area would be swollen and uncomfortable. Your activities would be severely limited for six weeks.

With this treatment, there is no recovery period and no significant downtime. There are a few post-treatment care steps you must take to ensure the best results. However, complying with reasonable guidelines is a small price to pay for self-confidence.

Botox: The Ideal Alternative to Ultherapy

While virtually everyone who wants to smooth wrinkles and tighten skin should get ultrasound skin tightening, not all wrinkles are caused by collagen loss. If your wrinkles are caused by hyperdynamic muscles, you should get Botox, a neuromodulator designed to relax the hyperactive muscles that wrinkle your face and cause sagging skin.

Who Should Get Botox

The ideal candidate for Botox is an adult who is concerned about wrinkled skin caused by excessive muscle contractions. You can tell that your wrinkles are caused by hyperdynamic muscles if they deepen when you move your facial muscles. If you’re not sure what’s causing your wrinkles, Dr. Adebola Dele-Michael will diagnose the cause of your wrinkles.

Between this information and your medical history, Dr. Adebola Dele-Michael will tailor a treatment plan that will allow you to achieve your aesthetic goals. Depending on those goals, ultrasound skin tightening, Botox or both may be the ideal anti-aging treatment for you.

What to Expect During Botox

Botox treatments start the same way as ultrasound skin tightening. Dr. Adebola Dele-Michael will sanitize the treatment area to mitigate the risk of infection. Once your skin is prepared for treatment, he will inject the neuromodulator into three to five points in the hyperactive muscle at varying depths to achieve the best, longest-lasting results.

The needle used to administer the Botox is so fine that few of our clients request a topical anesthetic. However, if you’re not a huge fan of needles, we are more than happy to numb the treatment area before your injections. Depending on how many muscles you’re targeting, your treatment can take anywhere from three to 15 minutes.

What to Expect From the Results of Botox

Within the first 24 to 72 hours of Botox, you will start to see the smoothing results of Botox. However, you may have to wait between 10 and 14 days to see the final results of treatment. Depending on the placement of the injections, this treatment can even lift sagging skin to help you look five to 10 years younger for four to six months at a time.  

Dermal Fillers: The Perfect Complement to Ultherapy

Just like Botox can serve as an alternative or complement to ultrasound skin tightening, dermal fillers also make great additions to enhance your professional skincare routine. Like ultrasound skin tightening, dermal filler injections encourage your skin to produce more collagen.

These fillers are usually used to smooth wrinkles caused by volume loss and lift sagging skin. However, they can also be used in place of invasive augmentation procedures, such as lip augmentation, cheek augmentation, and chin augmentation. Let’s take a look at which dermal filler might be right for your aesthetic needs:

Sculptra

Sculptra is a dermal filler that perfectly complements ultrasound skin tightening when used on the chest. Ultrasound skin tightening can be used to treat mild-to-moderate wrinkles caused by volume loss. Sculptra takes the volume boost to a whole new level. In fact, the results are so dramatic that the filler is used in such augmentation treatments as cheek augmentation.

Bellafill

Bellafill is the perfect complement to ultrasound skin tightening if you’re concerned about facial wrinkles and deep, dark bags under your eyes. While other tear trough treatments have side effects, like changing the tone of your skin, Bellafill is safe and effective for everyone, regardless of skin tone, type, or texture.

Restylane

Restylane is a dermal filler that acts just like your skin’s hyaluronic acid does. It fills the treated area to give you an instant volume boost. The reason Restylane is the perfect complement to ultrasound skin tightening is the results are dramatic and immediate.

Your skin simultaneously breaks down the synthetic hyaluronic acid and produces collagen to maintain the smooth, lifted, volumized results. Combining these two treatments results in even the deepest wrinkles being smoothed. The combination can even lift the loosest skin and provide results comparable to an invasive skin tightening procedure with results that last years.

Juvederm

At Radiant Skin Dermatology and Laser in New York, NY, we offer a Juvederm formulation for every volume-related skin problem you may have. For example, Juvederm Voluma XC is a Juvederm formula that includes lidocaine, indicated by the XC. It is designed to augment the cheeks as dramatically as cheek implants would and also lifts and tightens loose skin.

If you’re concerned about lip asymmetry and mild-to-moderate vertical lip lines, Volbella XC is the perfect complement to ultrasound skin tightening. If you’re looking to seriously plump up your pout and smooth moderate-to-severe lip lines, you’ll benefit from the Ultra XC formula. Vollure XC is the ideal formula for you if you’re looking to smooth nasolabial folds.

Learn More About How to Care for Your Skin Today

If you’re at least 30 years of age and have concerns about the appearance of your skin, Ultherapy can benefit you. If you’re interested in learning more, please contact us at Radiant Skin Dermatology and Laser in New York, NY today to book an appointment. We can’t wait to meet you and help you improve the health and appearance of your skin.