can ultherapy be used on African American skin

Ultherapy is completely safe for African American skin.  It is not a laser, so skin pigmentation does not affect the treatment.  Our patients typically return at 3 and 6 months for photo's and generally wait 2 years before their next treatment.  The level of discomfort can vary widely from patient to patient, but most physicians will prescribe 1-2 medications to take during the procedure to make it more comfortable.  Our patients report that it is mildly uncomfortable but are able to complete the entire treatment.  Thanks for your question.  

Ultherapy is perfectly safe for all skin types.  Ultherapy uses micro-focused ultrasound energy that by-passes the dermis and heats up the underlying structures.  Ultherapy works by administering ultrasound energy to specific depths of skin and muscle with precise ultrasound guidance, which causes tissue tightening and collagen production. Using ultrasound imaging, transducers with different depths are selected and the ultrasound energy can target precise depths of the patients’ lax skin and soft tissue including lax connective tissue of the face and neck. A shallow transducer can be used to target the thin, lax and wrinkled skin of the forehead, around the eyes and mouth and the lax skin of the neck. Due to its mechanical properties, ultrasound is one of the only energy sources that can be focused beneath the skin’s surface at any depth, without affecting the surface tissue. Ultherapy will not cause any hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation since the top layer of the skin is not involved.  The number of sessions vary based on the patient's age, severity of skin laxity and their adherence to a medical grade skin care routine.  I recommend that you have an in person consultation with a board certified plastic surgeon that has an Ultherapy expert at the practice. In our practice we use a cryotherapy unit which makes the procedure much more tolerable. 

One advantage of Ultherapy over laser treatments is that it can be used safely on all skin types. It uses focused ultrasound, which is precisely targeted in layers under the surface without affecting the pigment layer.