Welts, Swelling and Loss of Sensation - Melbourne, FL
I had full face Ultherapy performed on 7/31....
I had full face Ultherapy performed on 7/31. During the procedure, the Dr. commented on how red my face was starting to become and decided he would not complete the "2nd portion" of the procedure as he was concerned about "blistering". He rescheduled me to return for remainder of the treatment 6 days later. He and his nurse insisted that this "reaction" was not common and repeatedly blamed this on my recent exposure to the sun. ( I was not sunburnt but had been outside for up to an hour two days before the procedure...but again, I was not red at all.)
Well...as soon as I arrived home, I noticed welts appearing on both sides of my lower cheeks and a hard nodule by my right eye. The next morning, my face was incredibly swollen, welts, persisted and I noticed a loss of sensation to lower jaw area. This has continued into the 2nd morning so I called my plastic surgeon. According to the nurse, I am to place cold compresses and 1% hydrocortisone cream to affected areas. Again, she blamed the reaction to my sun exposure. Is this true or more likely due to incorrect depth of procedure?
Replies (6)

I hope this goes down soon. Keep up the cool compresses.
Day 3 after Ultherapy. Swelling on left side of...
I was contacted by a representative of Ultherapy and a member of their medical team will be contacting me shortly. This was appreciated!
I will update as soon as I hear anything.
Replies (7)

Thank you for updating us on how you are doing. I really appreciate you adding pictures so we can see what it looks like firsthand. In the last profile picture are the areas that feel burned the small raised up sections? In the photo they just look like little flesh colored moles, so I'm wondering if I'm looking at the right thing? I know cameras don't always capture exactly what we see in real life, so perhaps that is part of it as well.
Day 4: As suggested by the clinical staff at...
I spoke with my Dr. yesterday and he insists that the transducer was in contact at all times but if you read my response below where I mentioned that I was talking and laughing during the procedure, I can see how the transducer could have lifted from my face.
Thank you to all who have posted and I hope this doesn't scare anyone away from having the procedure. Mine is a very isolated case and the folks at Ultherapy have been great. I hope my issues will resolve quickly and I will continue to update.
Replies (14)
Dr. took NO after pictures but as you can see, I have taken plenty! He took only a few before pics.
I have no idea how much experience this doctor has had but I did check him out and he is a board certified plastic surgeon.
I'm glad you got a steroid pack. It will help tremendously. I would request a re-treat if you aren't seeing results in 90 days.
I have an appt. on Monday afternoon but he's not going to do anymore treatments until his "machine is checked out".

It's good that you're looking and feeling better, and your experience may have saved other people from this awful situation if it happens that the machine was faulty.
It just goes to show that nothing is 100% guaranteed.
I'm so glad to read that you are feeling somewhat better Kelly Cocoa! I'll be interested to hear what changes you see from the steroid pack, so please keep us informed. :)
That is a really good question. I will submit it in our Q&A section so that the board certified doctors who volunteer on here can share their opinions with us. It usually takes 24-48 hours for the doctors to start posting. You can click here to check for answers.
I hope the swelling and welts start to go down soon. Please keep us updated on how you are doing.