I had full face/neck for 2nd time yesterday. Last...
I had full face/neck for 2nd time yesterday. Last time was November 2010. The largest difference my first treatment made was in the lift of my brow...as is emphasized by Ulthera, themselves. It's true. I had lift to the eyes because of brow lift and very slightly more jawline definition. However, as of just before my 2nd treatment on Friday, one of my eyes had actually more sag than it did before my 1st treatment, while my other eye was lifted a little more than it was three months ago. Also, it seemed that reviewing just before my 2nd treatment, that my jawline was sagging worse than it did before my first treatment.
I had my two treatments done by two different nurses. The first was horrifically painful and I was on pain meds and had injections and I have a high pain tolerance. This time, however, by a different nurse, it was MUCH less painful. Not NEARLY as bad. I didn't have injections and 5mg of Valium and 2 Tramadols.
I had my treatment yesterday, and just had one red cheek, which went away overnight. I just have the slightest pain due to (not visible) edema in jaw and in one cheek. And, it's only when I touch it. Otherwise, I notice nothing. Btw, I was able to do an intense two hour workout a mere hour after being treated. Now, I just must wait to see results from this 2nd treatment.
I did this 2nd treatment because I read that patients who may not have responded as well to only one treatment, tend to have a much better response to a 2nd treatment. I will say that if your brow is your major concern, Ulthera is fantastic. That was corrected immediately with my first treatment.
One thing to remember, Ulthera cannot do noses or eyes :( , so, I have a concern about patchiness - could be kind of odd, better skin tone, etc., except where I have my hugest pores (on my nose), and my eyes have no improvement as not treated either. I intend to do an FX treatment to my nose and eyes though - maybe upper half of face.
It is now two months out from my 2nd Ulthera...
It is now two months out from my 2nd Ulthera treatment. I can now definitely see changes. They happened faster than after my first treatment, which makes sense. Anyway, definitely brow lift. Also, very nicely, pore shrinkage, and believe me, I needed that lol! Also, the chin/neck has definitely improved. It's rather amazing, cuz it's so darned hard to get that area to respond to ANYthing short of cutting and other extreme stuff. Now, here is the bad news. As I said before, Ulthera can NOT be done on eyes OR on the nose. Unfortunately, some of my largest pores are on my nose, so unfortunately, the diminishing size of the pores surrounding my nose, while wonderful, has rather accentuated the large size of the pores on my nose. This is a real bummer to me. I don't know why people don't mention this. I hate the thought of a patchwork face. Now, I have to do something separately to take care of my eyes and my nose. Oh yes, the other thing, as everyone knows, one's nose just keeps getting longer as you age, so because no Ulthera there, it just keeps going downward :( . No lifting there :P :( . So, whatever plan you have, you've got to incorporate something for your nose and eyes, unless you just don't see any disharmony from other parts of your face improving, while a very few prominent parts continue to descend. My plan of action, as stated before, is to get Total FX done on eyes and nose. It is the best fractional laser around, as it covers the highest % area, yet is still fractionated. The downside is you need a week to recover. If you're up in front of people as I am for work, you need a week inside, not around people. BUT, in my opinion, for ME, it was sooo worth it the first time I had the full face/neck done. Trouble is finding that precious week to take off of work :( . Good luck everyone. Oh yes, I am getting pictures taken at the end of four months, when best results should be seen.
Okay, here's the unfortunate update and I think...
Okay, here's the unfortunate update and I think folks had better listen. I got photos today. It has been 4 months after my 2nd Ulthera. The REALLY bad news is, I believe it is actually responsible for GIVING me jowls and now I have a somewhat turkey neck that was NOT there 4 months ago! And, it was pretty easy to see this in the mirror, as well, before I went to have photos taken and compared. But, here is the worst part of the news. You can say that I'm just a totally rare case. But, apparently, that is not so at all. The very nurse, who is incredibly intelligent and definitely knows how to use this thing, who did my 2nd Ulthera treatment, has had three on her, and REALLY focused on her chin, jowl, neck area. Guess what? Yep, after she saw my awful results, she showed me hers. Her photos were all stored in the same computer. The SAME THING. It is SO visible, hugely worse, not a little. I am not exaggerating. So, get this done at your own risk. I did see a good difference ---for the brows--- for sure the first time. But, even the first time, one side of my face got worse. And now, I think I've really done it. I'm going to have to think about what to do next, as, absolutely no exaggeration, I just added at least five years to my face.
Went back today for photos once more, as I was not...
Went back today for photos once more, as I was not happy with results of 2nd treatment. I felt that I had seen improvement not there earlier. Now, bear in mind, I DID begin Retin A in between the time I had photos taken the last time and now. So, that makes a difference in skin texture, and, admittedly, I saw that. BUT, I really did see a significant difference, mostly on one side where I had mentioned true jowls seemed to have formed after the 2nd treatment. Today, when I compared the photos at the doc's office, I was surprised! The jowl had DEFINITELY diminished. It was pretty great! The other side was harder to tell, but it had not been as bad as the other either. So, bottom line, uneven response on my face. One side DID improve FINALLY - whew. And the other half of my face, at least, did not get worse :) , and slightly better in some others. So, was it worth it? Well, I did have quite a scare. But, in the end, it just took ME longer to experience the improvement. And, it got worse before it got better. So, I'm not certain. I would have to say I remain undecided.
I can't figure out how to edit the update I just...
I can't figure out how to edit the update I just posted, so I have to make an additional comment, instead. Sorry folks. At the beginning of my last update, I typed, "Went back today for photos once more, as I was not happy with results of 2nd treatment. I felt that I had seen improvement not there earlier."
That doesn't seem very clear to me now. So, all I was trying to say is that, until recently, I had been unhappy with 2nd Ulthera. But that, recently, I had seen what I thought to be new improvements in the mirror, so I went to the doc to get one more set of photos to verify what I thought I was seeing. And, I see improvement past what the Retin A would be able to improve. Thanks for reading.
http://doctorbase.com/static/assets/E7/E765D4E0-ABF2-11DF-B6B9-FA3BB821830B.pdf
I really appreciate the information - I love that you give lots of details. Thank you for taking the time!
What doctor would you recommend for Total FX? I'm in San Jose as well.
http://www.realself.com/question/amount-fat-loss-ultherapy
Also, in the end, when you're trying to lift skin of the neck/jowls (which granted, wasn't really a prob before this for me :( ), you need a neck lift. In fact, you owe it to yourself to access the 'face lift' portion of this site under the worth it ratings. The photos of the women who have posted are astounding and I am now considering this possibility, where I never would have before. Also, in the past months, reading SO many docs evaluation of how to get rid of jowls/neck droop/crepe prob, they have ALL agreed on one thing. You can laser or whatever as much as you want, but the only thing that is going to lift that is a facelift/necklift. Do go read and look at some of the facelift stories. Really and truly amazing with recommendations on who to go to and all sorts of details about what they went through and so many just in the recent past months! Good luck to you in your decision. I sure as heck know it isn't easy to sift through all this info, sometimes trying to evaluate who to believe, if someone is being hypercritical or a hypochondriac or if they are not. Or, are they legit? And, not wanting to be taken to the cleaners, yet not being a cheapskate either, cuz you get what you pay for. Whew.
So, I think for the top half of the face, that it seems to work - the brow in particular, which incidentally, is the exact place they always speak of when discussing the results of ulthera. However, I kid you not about the neck/jowls. I so wish I were. I am not exaggerating, whatsoever. In fact, I had wondered about the nurse, cuz she had told me she had done it multiple times on neck (had another nurse do it on her), and I didn't think it looked different. Then, when she showed me her side by side photos, wow. I don't know what the heck is going on. It doesn't make sense to me if the theory they are explaining is truly taking place. At the very least, it should NOT get worse, but that simply is not the case. Of course, everyone has their own individual response, but I think it highly likely this is not so isolated as, really, what are the chances that two people would have the exact same problem, four months after they have the procedure, where they have visibly aged? Yes, I believe it is a VERY real concern. And yes, I did say I thought it was hard to go wrong with Ulthera, but I also said that I would update. And, this is precisely why I am updating. The visible negative effects were not as much when I last wrote before this. But, they quickly became apparent after. Of course, I also did not know about the nurse either, until I went in a few days ago. So, as soon as I got back, I posted, as I believe this is critical info that everyone should have before doing this. Also, I don't know if you saw my previous post from my first ulthera treatment, but I went numb for about three months on my neck/jowls, even suspecting nerve damage, although I waited patiently to get feeling back. I had contacted Ulthera twice about that to try to get them to disclose that, as I saw someone else on the internet was absolutely terrified when she experienced the same thing. To date, I do not believe that Ulthera has disclosed that as one of the side effects of the procedure and they darned well should, so people like that woman do not freak out. Although, I'm not sure if it's ever a good thing to lose feeling for three months in any area of the body, regardless. You could get Ulthera done on the upper half of your face. I can't really see a difference from a 2nd treatment. But, I can tell you I definitely saw a great and good difference for the top half of my face, for which Ulthera is mainly indicated. I do recommend for that. Perhaps, modify what you are having done? I do not regret Ulthera for the top 1/2 of my face.
That's a great way of looking at it Cate.
Thanks for being such a great part of the community!
-Britt
thx
So, I am going to be going in to get more photos to compare. But, looking at my face in the mirror, I'd have to say I do have some brow lift at this time, a speck over one month out from my 2nd treatment. It is possible the jawline has improved very very slightly, but I'll be able to comment more intelligently on that once I get more photos at the docs and compare to my photos I got at different times with my first treatment. I'll be getting photos in about a week. Then, going again in two more months to get more photos.
xoxoxo
xoxox