Is It Always Best to Use the Highest Settings a Person Can Tolerate Pain Wise for Ulthera?

Question

Is it most ideal to use the highest settings possible when doing Ultherapy, with the only thing holding you back from using the highest settings being the patients ability to tolerate the pain, or are there other factors taken into account when choosing the settings?

Peter Lee, MD, FACS · Answer

A patient's pain tolerance is not the only factor to be considered with Ultherapy and the energy settings, the number of joules, is not the only variable that the physician can adjust to deliver the optimal treatment to each patient.

	In our clinic, we have been experimenting with varying the number and the patterns of lines that we can lay down in different areas of the face, with very satisfying results! In addition to the patient's pain tolerance, a physician experienced with Ulthera will evaluate the patient's skin thickness as well as the thickness of the subcutaneous fat in the areas being treated.

	Finally, the physician must also pay close attention to the manner in which the skin in each area reacts to the treatment. Just as using too little energy can result in a sub-therapeutic treatment, using too much can result in a superficial burn of the skin. Ideally, an Ulthera treatment is not a mechanical process, but a dynamic one, in which an experienced practitioner is constantly evaluating the patient's tissues and their reaction to the treatment, and making changes as appropriate throughout the treatment.

	Lastly, in our clinic, we recognize that patients vary widely in terms of their pain tolerance, and we offer a full spectrum of analgesic and anesthesia options from simple oral pain pills to intravenous sedation. This is one more way in which the Ulthera treatment can be customized to meet the individual needs of each patient.

Chang Son, MD · Answer

Patient pain tolerance is subjective and highly variable.  Although generally speaking, higher energy is attempted to be delivered during Ultherapy, we have found that for certain areas of face specially, tailoring amount of enery used can yield better result.  Important thing to remember that not patients are different, and thus require different and unique set of parameters for optimal result.

Is It Always Best to Use the Highest Settings a Person Can Tolerate Pain Wise for Ulthera?

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Everything you need to know about Ultherapy

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Is It Always Best to Use the Highest Settings a Person Can Tolerate Pain Wise for Ulthera?

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Everything you need to know about Ultherapy

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.