Can Ultherapy Be Done on the Eyelids? Or is It Not Safe? Or Just Not Tested?

At this time the transducers are not set to deliver the shallow depth of treatment that a thin eyelid requires and the transducers are cumbersome for this small area.  Thermage and Pelleve are better tighteners of the skin of eyelids.

Performing Ultherapy on the forehead to elevate the brow can be very helpful to relieve excess skin on the upper eyelids.  But it is absolutely NOT safe to treat the actual upper eyelid skin.  Knowing the boundaries of a given treatment modality is essential, and I commonly tell my patients that Ultherapy is great for soft tissues in the cheeks and neck, but areas where it does not do well are:


Excess upper eyelid skin

Platysmal bands


I have had many patients have an Ultherapy treatment, then 3 months after, we perform a Blepharoplasty (eyelid lift) right in the office.  It can be done under local anesthesia (just an injection of numbing lidocaine), with the patient awake, and takes only 1/2 an hour.  Patients may develop some bruising - but this usually resolves in a week to 10 days.  The scar is invisible because it is placed right in the eyelid crease!

Hope that is helpful.

Ultherapy on the eyelids is not safe as the energy can penetrate the globe of the eye and cause irreversible injury.Read the Ultherapy ebook provided on the link below. 

The company has been evaluating the Ulthera treatment on the eyelids, but as of today, they have not found a good way to shield the eyes from the energy of the treatment.  Therefore, it is not recommended to treat the eyelids.  Who knows what the future holds though.