Ultherapy - Scottsdale

As I've gotten older, and especially since my husband died, how I look has not been a prime concern. I work around geeks (software engineers and startup founders) and they all wear t-[RS bleep] and flipflops, so I got in the habit of wearing jeans and a random top, and not wearing makeup.

I did, however, continue my earlier habit of putting expensive creams on my skin and wearing sunscreen, something I'd been doing since I turned 40 and a friend of mine started a skin care line. He educated me about taking care of my skin, because before that I had just slapped a bunch of makeup on it to cover what I didn't like.

Fast forward to the present, and one day a photographer who had taken a photo of me 25 years earlier forwarded it to me and I thought to myself, "I looked pretty good back then." I realized I had not been taking care of myself, and I made a pact with myself to dress better and look like "myself" rather than a frumpy geek. I promptly lost twelve pounds and bought some business appropriate clothes, including a...hold your breath...dress! I even started wearing makeup again; I had myself made up by Mac.

Once I did that, people began telling me how great I looked immediately. Even the geeks. I realized that as a business adviser to startups, it had probably always been inappropriate to try to look like a software engineer.

One weekend, I showed up at a yoga class, and ran into a friend from yoga who had gone to work for Ulthera, a local Arizona company. She told me they were looking for participants in a patient comfort study. I thought it was a good opportunity to continue my "makeover,"especially with a local company I could write about and use as an example to other entrepreneurs.

I arrived at the comfort study having taken the four Tylenol they had told me to take an hour before the procedure. I had a trainer and a trainee working on my face for two hours. I was laying on a table, with a blanket under my knees for comfort, and every time the trainee used the laser on another part of my face, I was asked if I were comfortable. Except for the "lines" (applications of the laser) on my neck, I was.

Because of my age and my general fitness level I have very little fat in my face, and that works against you during the treatment; fat layers make it less painful. For me, they were often applying the laser pretty close to the bone, so they used all kinds of techniques to keep me comfortable (a piece of gauze inserted in my mouth to pull my cheek away, for example).

The lower part of the face is more detailed and takes more time. The nurse makes two passes at each section of the face, one with a handle that goes deeper, and the second for a lighter application. If you are feeling a lot of discomfort, ask the nurse to turn the current down one joule, because that makes a ton of difference from a comfort level and doesn't interfere with the result.

I was told to expect a result gradually over 3-6 months and to come back for photos at those intervals. But when I got up from the table, I saw an immediate result,no bruising, no swelling, no after effects at all.

Today I feel as though I look generally better, although perhaps not perceptibly to anyone but me.

Will this change my life? Of course not. I didn't expect ANY treatment to change my life. But it will make me feel slightly better about myself as I continue to work among people who are often even younger than my children.

I went for my six-month follow-up last week. Everyone says I look "great." That's subjective, but I'll take it. My before and after photos wouldn't show it, but I know it by what people say. For someone my age, I got a very satisfactory result, and I've signed up for another comfort study. It's painful, but I can get through it. Next time I will take some Advil before.