Is It Okay to Find Deals on Ultherapy?

Ultherapy should be customized to your face and cannot be relied upon as a cookie cutter type treatment.  As the old adage goes, 'you get what you pay for.' Raffy Karamanoukian, MD

What happens if something goes wrong? Will your provider respond to you urgently? Will you get the same response from treatment if Ultherapy is done by anyone? Does the experience and knowledge of the provider lessen your risks? We've all heard car lease commercials in which the monthly cost seemed so low until you realize that there were high up front charges and very low annual miles allowed. Similarly, it is important to have a physician treat you who is thorough and careful. If one Ultherapy is done on a face but only involves 600 lines of treatment, it is probable that the same surface area treated  by a different provider using 1200 lines would produce a better result.

Are you being referred to this Ultherapy doctor by another docor who knows the community of physicians and their reputations, or are you being referred by a friend who had the treatment and is happy with their results? If not, and if you are looking at the internet and shopping price, you may be disappointed.

I have had Ultherapy since 2011, and I have found that my own results have improved with time as I have learned to customize and taylor my protocols to each patient.  I do have aestheticians that provide Ulthera but I also do a fair number of patients myself.  I have found that very soon after I received the device, I started increasing the amount of energy used to where I was using twice the recommended protocol.  Ulthera then changed their protocol to increase the overall amount of energy towards the end of 2012.  Since then, I have also increased the amount of energy we deliver to patients.

One thing to bear in mind, when you go to a core board certified aesthetic provider (e.g. Plastic Surgeon, Dermatologist), they are usually the ones leading advancing the use of these technologies.  The technology companies, however, need to grow so they quickly start selling to a lot of non-core customers. 

In general, you get what you pay for. Ultherapy should be performed by someone highly trained on the anatomy of the face and neck to avoid damaging nerves or thinning out the face in inappropriate places that can make someone actually look older. There is a spa near us that has Ultherapy who runs specials and despite this, we get clients from them who said they felt uncomfortable with the credentials of the practitioner. 

Technique is important, as is high level training. And always, buyer beware. Ultherapy done poorly can have untoward effects. 

Good luck!

Ultherapy uses microfocused ultrasound for nonivasive skin lifting with a single treatment. The results will vary but there is some correlation to using an adequate number of pulses and how they are oriented. There is a fixed cost to the provider for each pulse because the ultrasound transducers need to be replaced regularly, and there is of course the investment in the device itself. So it is possible to lower costs by using fewer pulses but the results will not be as predictable. So everyone delivering the same number of pulses with the same technique should get similar results but technique and experience do matter.

This is a very good question! As that is true, I always recommend you doing your research before getting a treatment done. There is a protocol with this treatment, however it is easy to mess up. The person administering the treatment can skimp out on how many pulses are needed or use the wrong handpiece for the correct part of the body that is being treated. Many ways in this can be done wrong, which is why I would be careful when considering discounted treatments.

Ultherapy costs vary but you are paying for experience - those of us that have done it for 3 or more years have learned what vectors to use, what is appropriate for which patient, how to minimize pain and discomfort during the procedure and technique to minimize bruising and also to maximize collage production and thus effective skin tightening. Experience is what you are paying for so buyer beware. 

With any medical procedure a deal is usually given because the doctor is still learning or the center is not busy for other reasons. It’s more important to go to an experienced provider.

It is good to shop around to find out the best pricing, however, I believe you should also take into consideration how many procedures they have performed and what kind of results they have obtained.  Ask for good before and after photographs.  Also, there is a potential risk of nerve injury with Ulthera, so you want to use a practice that is well versed in the potential "trouble spots," such as the temporal branch of the facial nerve.  You should also be aware that not all treatments are the same.  For example, we have treated over 450 patients, and as our standard, when we treat the neck, we treat down to the clavicular region (the entire neck).  Other practices consider the region between the jaw line and the Adam's apple as the neck.  It is not unusual for us to place over 1,000 lines during a typical face and neck treatment.  If you are only getting 4-500 lines during a treatment you ca not expect to get the same results.  Ask for an estimate of the number of lines that will be used, and after the treatment, ask for the total number used. I hope this helps!

The Ultherapy treatment does have a specific protocol and any reputable office will follow the treatment guidelines.  You can get good deals on Ultherapy and still get good treatment, just make sure you check out the office online before you go, bad practitioners don't last long without poor reviews on the internet these days...