Best laser/treatment for skin tightening of lower face and neck?

Question

Which laser do you recommend for skin tightening for lower face (jowls and neck)? Which lasers have the most "bang for your buck"? Which have the least amount of downtime? This is all so confusing!

Anna Chacon, MD, FAAD · Answer

This is where marketing can be very misleading.

For non-surgical tightening, the most reliable options are:

RF microneedling (Morpheus8, Genius, etc.)
Ultrasound-based (Ultherapy)

Quick breakdown:

Best “bang for buck” → RF microneedling
Least downtime → Ultherapy (but more subtle results)
Best overall improvement (non-surgical) → Combination approach

That said—once laxity becomes moderate to severe, these give improvement, not lifting.

Kally Papantoniou, MD, FAAD · Answer

It’s confusing because there isn’t one “best” option. The best laser for your skin depends on how much laxity you have and how aggressive you want to be.

For true tightening in the lower face and neck, Ultherapy is usually the go-to. It works deeper to lift and tighten, and there’s no real downtime.

Treatments like Fraxel or Micro RF can help, but more from a skin quality standpoint; texture, crepiness, mild tightening, and they typically require a series.

In reality, the best results often come from layering. Using something like Ultherapy for deeper support, then adding treatments like Fraxel or Micro RF to improve the surface of the skin.

An in-person evaluation is key to figuring out the right combination for you.

Raffy Karamanoukian, MD, FACS · Answer

Morpheus 8 is a non-invasive skin and soft tissue tightening treatment that is consistently amazing in our patients. We use the Morpheus to exact fractional induced RF into the skin or tissue in order to tighten collagen and stimulate contraction of the tissue. Helps reduce appearance of Cellulite by helping aid the production of collagen and tightening the skin. For acne scars, it is quite useful to build collagen in patients who have atrophic scars but is not very productive for ice-pick scars which require TCA Cross. For tissue tightening, Morpheus is ideal for the face and neck and we often combine it with CO2 laser or Ultherapy to further enhance results. Chemical peels and skin resurfacing should be done at least 5 to 7 days after, but can be performed earlier, depending on treatment severity. Avoid exfoliating skin treatments before Morpheus and expect a period of 2-4 weeks for skin contraction to set in.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

Best, 
Dr. Karamanoukian 
Realself100 Surgeon

Best laser/treatment for skin tightening of lower face and neck?

Answers (3)

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