Does Ultherapy Provide Better Results Than XL Accent, Thermage? (photo)and Laser Facelift Procedures?

The question of which device works best for non-surgical skin tightening is a good one to ask, and many people will share many opinions depending on which devices they have and what their overall experience with the device has been. It is also interesting to note that the patient's presenting age and degree of skin laxity is probably a greater factor in determining results than any isolated technology by itself. Furthermore, a practitioners experience with a particular device or class of devices is also a significant factor in results.

Thermage and Accent employ various RF (radiofrequency) algorithms, and Ulthera uses Ultrasound energy. All three technologies seek to heat the tissue and stimulate various degrees of collagen regeneration at different tissue depths. I perform all treatments myself, and I have experience with Thermage and Ulthera. I feel that the ability of Ulthera to consistently ablate tissue in deeper planes represents a great promise in terms of what types of patients can be treated and the potential outcomes. On the other hand, I will say that Thermage still has a large following, and remains very popular with many of my patients.

 

My personal advice to you is find a clinician who has a truly vertically integrated practice. This means that the practice has acccess to various technologies, and the practioner is well versed not only in devices, but also both minimally invasive surgical technologies as well as more traditional surgical options. The concept of vertical integration is very important because practice depth will allow a clinician to give you the most honest assessment of what procedures or technologies will best suit your needs. The challenge I see in the industry is that many practices and physicians are not truly vertically integrated, focusing on a narrow set of options that many clients find dissatisfying.

In our practice, with dermatologic and plastic surgeons, we have seen the results of Thermage, Pelleve and Ultherapy. We also inform all of our patients that none of the non-invasive procedures can deliver as much a lift as a surgical procedure.

During consultation, we examine the facial features and try to determine what's best for our patient. There are many variables such as sun damage, smoking history, history of medical illnesses, medication taken, that may affect the results of all these procedures and surgery. 

I have found, of the non-invasive procedures, that per treatment, Ultherapy gives our patients the most lift. The results tend to continue to improve for about six months or more after the procedure as collagen continues to form in the dermis. Usually it is one Ultherapy treatment whereas Pelleve involves a series of treatments and does not deliver energy as deeply as Ultherapy but some of the Pelleve results are very good.

Again, to state very clearly, none of the non-invasive techniques can come close to surgery in the amount of skin lifted but some patients are not ready for surgery and the non-invasive treatments do not prevent you from having surgery in the future.

The truth is that none of the non-surgical facelifts do very much.  So your better approach is to go to the plastic surgeon and describe what result you want and ask how best to get there.  It might be that what you are wanting can only be achieved with surgery.  If that is the case, non-surgical teatments are a waste of time and money.