Has anyone try to use ice on a patient before ultherapy?

Question

Has any doctors know of any other doctor that has used ice on a patient's face for deep tissue numbing before ultherapy?

Kimberly Butterwick, MD · Answer

We do not use ice to numb patients before Ultherapy treatments at my practice. We do offer a variety of other pain and numbing medications, and have a full service OR where we can anesthetize you if you are very pain sensitive. Ice is not recommended before an Ultherapy treatment because Ultherapy relies on ultrasound energy that heats the tissue, and if ice is used, the alteration in tissue temperature may affect results

Frank P. Fechner, MD · Answer

I would discourage any icing prior to an Ultherapy treatment
as it may affect its efficacy.Our
patients are pre-medicated to tolerate any pain related to the treatment. Check the Ulthera website
to find a legitimate provider in your area.

Richard Zienowicz, MD · Answer

Heat is an important component of the Ultherapy technology so numbing the areas before treatment with ice would not be recommended.

Timothy R. Miller, MD · Answer

I am sure someone has tried ice or chilling the area before and during Ultherapy treatments.  However, I do not recommend this approach because Ultherapy was designed and tested to place FDA approved ultrasonic waves at specific depths and heat the tissue to a specific temperature at these depths. And the results of Ultherapy are based on heating the tissues to these exact temperatures to induce collagen synthesis (growth).Therefore, chilling the area (for what I expect is for pain relief or comfort) could alter the temperature and create a scenario where collagen synthesis does not occur.  At our facility, patients have the option to have their Ultherapy treatments under IV sedation and patients have been very happy and comfortable with this approach.I hope this helps.

Michael I. Echavez, MD · Answer

I have never used ice on a patient prior to Ultherapy and do not know of any physicians that do.  Since the ultrasound delivered during the Ultherapy session creates heat, the ice could potentially negatively affect the results that might be achieved from the treatment.  There are a variety of other ways that can be used to reduce any pain from the procedure, including oral medications, nerve blocks and topical anesthetic preparations.

John J. Martin, Jr., MD · Answer

Ultherapy works by sending ultrasound into the deep tissue to heat it up stimulating new collagen production.  If you ice the area first you will lower the starting temperature of the tissue.  The Ultraound may therefore not cause the appropriate rise in temperature you are hoping for.  So I would not ice beforehand.

Grant Stevens, MD · Answer

HI and thank you for you question! We give our patients oral medications only. Sometimes we will try some topical numbing for the 1.5mm if the patient is sensitive to this transducer. Ice is not typically recommended with an Ultherapy treatment, as it can interfere with efficacy. Best, Dr. Grant Stevens

Matthew Elias, DO, FAAD · Answer

Thank you for your question.  The newer Ulthera techniques are very comfortable compared to past iterations and adequate premedication will likely alleviate any discomfort.  If you were to consider ice, I would use either the Zimmer chiller or the Artek spot chiller and not true ice as you can cause many problems with uncontrolled temperature variations, etc.  Regards, Dr. Matt Elias

Hratch Karamanoukian, MD, FACS · Answer

Ice is not needed with proper premedication of patients for Ultherapy.The new generation devices from Ultherapy make it very comfortable for patients.Read my ebook about Ultherapy on the link below.Dr. Karamanoukian

Has anyone try to use ice on a patient before ultherapy?

Answers (9)

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