Ultherapy Done by a Skilled Plastic Surgeon Makes All the Difference in the World - Old Bridge, NJ

I am 48 years old and since the age of 41, have tried to stay ahead of the aging process. I've gone for fillers and Botox on a regular basis. However, I had started to see the beginning of a descending face that I knew needed a more intense intervention. I researched the heck out of the procedure and decided, that for me, having the plastic surgeon do the procedure was the only way to go.

I should also mention that I am a licensed esthetician who takes good care of her skin and stays out of the sun. I KNOW that this has helped me tremendously up until this point.

Enter Dr. Samra. One of the most pleasant , knowledgable and caring doctors who I have met. The day of the procedure, yesterday, I came with a list of questions and the doctor answered them truthfully and completely. He NEVER made me feel as if I were a bother and, in fact, just the opposite. He seemed interested in what I had to say and the session flew by. At times it was a little uncomfortable, but nothing I couldn't handle, although I did have quite a high pain tolerance, especially for the sake of beauty!!!

It's too soon to tell if I will get the results I want, but I DO know he used the highest settings and the appropriate transducers, and so I feel quite confident that I will be seeing good things in the near future. He exceeded my expectations on every level and I am forever grateful. Thank you Dr. Samra!!!

I had some slight swelling in my lower face which is slowly subsiding. I have just a tinge of yellow on the lower left side of my face, although I never had an actual bruise there. The lower face still feels tender, which I expect given how intense the procedure was!!! It is nothing that a little Tylenol can't take care of and, at this point, I am hopeful and would do it again in a heartbeat!!! The one thing I am thrilled about is the apparent lifting of my eyebrow. I had one side that was higher than the other, and so Dr. Samra treated the lower eyebrow and they are both equal now. AMAZING!!!

I've decided to post all my photos without makeup. This way, in a few months, I'll hopefully be able to see a result without anything to camouflage it. I will try to make a real effort to document my journey, good or bad, so that the next person contemplating my procedure can make a more informed decision. I would appreciate any feedback, comments or questions, since this is the first time I've done this sort of thing. I am so proud of myself that I was able to figure out how to post the pictures here!!!

I cheated a little and put some makeup on. The swelling is going down and I am soooo hopeful!!

Cheating again with makeup...just came back from work so here it is!!!

Day 11...my son's senior prom is tonight so I want to take some pictures with him for his special day!!! My "baby" is growing up...so bittersweet.

Trying to stay away from this site but it's hard. I want to help other people and will try to contribute more in this community. I just wanted to post a couple of pictures that might show minor improvement!!!

Just a quick one...does anyone see anything?

Still serving small changes everyday!!!

Picked up what I thought might be the flu, but after a day and a half feeling a bit better and am thinking it was just a virus. Anyway, in the midst of some MAJOR life changes(wrote a book and having meetings next week!!!) so I really haven't had time to focus on myself. That's probably a good thing for me and all of you because I've really posted lots of pics!!!

Anyway, haven't washed my hair in four days but feeling hopeful about a shower today!!! Have a great day!

I have nothing but continued progress to report, but someone asked me to post a before pic so here it is. I had been shying away from pictures because the camera doesn't lie and it was hard not to get upset over how I REALLY looked!!

I continue to see results and am at the six week mark. I have an appointment to see the doctor next tuesday so that he can evaluate as well. I have been reading so many bad reviews on here and it hurts to see so many people not happy with this procedure. So many of these reviews involve welts( that should NOT happen) and burns. I just had mild swelling in my lower face. I can't stress enough that this procedure is only as good as the provider. It should NOT be done by techs.

That being said, I know I am one of the the lucky ones to get out of the procedure what I wanted. Please do your homework, only have board-certified plastic surgeons do the procedure and ask to see tons of before and after pictures. Ethical doctors will even put you in touch with former patients so that you can ask them questions as well. It SUCKS to get older, but we can go down fighting!!
Your sister in beauty,
Jill

Hi all,
I'm writing this to update everyone on what's been going on. I seemed to have stabilized for now in terms of lift, but during my last visit to him around two weeks ago, he said that I was in the minority for showing change that early and that I still have more lifting ahead. So...that's exciting to look forward to...three months for me will be August 20th so I will post another update ON THAT DATE!!!(note to self!!)

I have been under a great deal of stress this past month, since my husband has been diagnosed with a large tumor that is compressing his esophagus. He is so weak and tired and that's I how feel too. He is going to the hospital today to have another test done and then they will schedule surgery. They don't know if it is cancer, but all prayers are welcome at this point.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and feeling beautiful every day.

Love always,
Jill

As I have mentioned previously, I really didn't take many photos of myself because the camera doesn't lie and I hated seeing the aging process captured in a picture. Hera are all I could find, probably going back as much as six months before the procedure. Hope this helps!!!

I just wanted to add a post about juvederm and figured I may as well just add it as an addendum to my Ultherapy. I haven't seen any more improvement since my last post, and I thought that adding a litte filler might be just what I needed. I was due anyway. So I decided to cheat on my regular plastic surgeon who I love and who has done my Botox and juvederm for the last seven years.

To make this post even funnier, I took my twenty year old daughter with me, who recently lost 85 pounds on her own with another 60 to go. She had been unhappy with her lips for awhile and was especially unhappy with her top lip. I don't know if this made me a bad or good mother, but I was willing to let her try juvederm.

I didn't realize it at the time, but the doctor's air conditioning in the office was not working and everybody seemed to be doing their job and being friendly, despite the apparent heat. Now I have no idea how I, of all people, would not notice this, because my face starts to drip with the first sign of warmth. I guess I got so caught up in a beauty moment that my body just didn't register it!!

My daughter and I are escorted within five minutes into a VERY small room with hardly any space for two people to stand comfortably, let alone three when the assistant came in. The doctor comes in and asks how he can help us today. I told him about my concerns( nasolabial folds and lips) and then threw in how my daughter was unhappy about her top lip as well. Looking back, I feel badly about throwing a second patient at him, but my daughter and I were both so excited I guess we couldn't help ourselves!

Anyway I told him my concerns and he agreed with me and even pointed out a few things that I did not realize, so it was interesting to hear someone else's observations. He began with my top lip and I have to say that HURT, even with numbing cream. After he was done he had me look and I liked it a lot. He then injected the rest into my nasolabial folds, focusing more in the upper region and fixing some asymmetry that I had. I looked in the mirror when he was done and we agreed I just needed a bit more. When he was done, I took the mirror and held it as my daughter sat down in the chair. He looked at her lips and explained what he was going to do, and if she liked it in a few days, she could always come back for more. She grabbed my hand and held it tightly as he started. I was amazed at how well she handled it and thought to myself oh my god, I created a monster. I handed her the mirror and her face lit up. All he used was a very small amount of filler on her upper border, and she was happy. While all this was going on, I was looking in the mirror at myself and thinking that I needed a little in the border of my bottom lip to even things out. I had never gotten anything injected there before.

I pointed it out to him and he agreed. I sat down AGAIN and he injected some there. I looked in the mirror, which I had been holding on and off for the last 30 minutes, and we agreed that it was good, that using anymore would just be chasing your tail, so to speak. We had almost a full syringe left, having opened a second one. He said that we could keep it for two weeks and use it until then, after which they dispose of it, because the company no longer guarantees it. It made sense to me and as I walked up front to pay, I had no idea what it would cost me. I didn't ask because I knew I had enough money to cover it. She told me that it was $1,170, 585 a syringe. I think I was pleasantly surprised that I would have a couple of hundred dollars left, because money is an issue with me. I need more of it.

Anyway I paid and then we left, with my daughter wanting Starbucks. She is extremely rigid with her diet, and can be a GIANT pain the the ass sometimes, but the reduced fat turkey bacon sandwich is one of her breakfast staples and she was hungry. We drove to the closest Starbucks and had breakfast and compared notes. She decided she liked it and wanted more, and I decided I could ALWAYS use more so we plan to return this week and use up the remaining vial.

Dr. Samra was a complete gentlemen and wonderful doctor to handle two women who wanted to look beautiful and younger, all the while sweating in that little room. I plan on calling him on Monday, and leaving a message for him that says just that, when I make our next appointment, hopefully on Wednesday. I will post some pictures and you can be the judge, seeing how there's a lot of before pictures!!! Hope this wasn't too long or rambling, but I guess I'm just in that type of mood. Hope everyone has a beautiful day and weekend.

I am past my three- month mark, and should see full results by now. I'm not sure what I see? I do see results with my ultherapy, and I did add filler a couple of weeks ago. It just makes me think about what we are searching for in the quest for youth. Do we want to look like younger versions of ourselves, or are we looking different than nature intended us to look with all these different procedures added? Are we doing too much and how much is too much? My mom and kids have told me to stop doing all these things and that I was doing too much, but I never took them seriously. Was I in denial about what I was doing?

I think I was and am just now coming to the realization that less is more. As my filler fades, I think I will like the new me just a bit better.

I really haven't had a chance to post, but I did want to give my final review on ultherapy. It worked for ME. I am going to try to be fair and think of everyone's questions and try to answer them as best I can. My results were worth it to me on every level. I think it is a more than fair price to pay, considering my results were better than expected. There really was no pain or downtime after the procedure except for minor lower jaw swelling. I went to work the next day. I started to see changes as early as 4 weeks in, even though that was early and a vist to the doctor confirmed that. The thing is, I FELT BETTER ABOUT MYSELF!!! I think that this is what it's all about, at the end of the day, for every one of us. Every tweak that we do to ourselves that takes us in the right direction, we enjoy. Financially, if we are able to afford these procedures, then we are fortunate. However, if you are saving and saving for this procedure, and think that this is the answer to all your troubles, you might be disappointed, because it's such an individual thing. Patient selection is key, because you really have to just need minor improvement. People will be disappointed if they have more than moderate jowling, for this is not your answer. Only surgery is, at least in my opinion. The thing is, this whole journey was my own, not paid for or endorsed by anyone else. I have some before and after pictures that speak for themselves . It has really been therapeutic for me to be on this website, and also given me some insight as to how people may react if I put my story out there, and yes, balooga, I am speaking to you. The rest of you have been so sweet and supportive that it gives me hope for what may lay ahead. I shall be a lurker here forever, or at least until my next procedure! Blessings all.

Jill

I feel an obligation to post a review almost eleven months later. I was really thrilled with my results at first...it definitely tightened my skin and I felt the best about myself last summer than I could ever remember feeling. Fast forward to now. I've been fiddling around with my face for months, doing little things here and there, just fillers and in very small amounts, but I couldn't put my finger on what was bothering me until now. My daughter mentioned something to me about my double chin, and I asked her what she was talking about...I thought she was teasing me, because my kids love to tease me. But she said that she was serious, and showed me several pictures that she had taken of me. I definitely have sagging now, and I think that Ultherapy does indeed tighten the skin, but after the tightening effect diminishes, the fat loss becomes apparent. So essentially I'm back to square one minus some fat that my face could have used.

Everyone wants to believe that there is the next latest and greatest procedure that stops the clock, and this has become such a popular one that I discounted all the horror stories, thinking that they must have been operator dependent. But I don't think they are now. We just need some long term studies done on the potential pitfalls of these new procedures BEFORE they hit the masses. I don't think that anything can replace surgery, and something that sounds too good to be true probably is.

I sincerely hope that I'm in the minority here and that everyone is feeling beautiful, at least on the inside, because that's where it really counts.

Xoxo,
Jill

49 is such a funny age...one minute you're on top of the world, and the next one you're trying to put the pieces back together again. I've been having more good days than bad lately, so I figured that I'd share some of that positivity. Have a great weekend!
Xoxo,
Jill