Full Face and Full Neck Ultherapy, plus Sculptra (3 vials over 3 sessions) - Houston, TX

My history: In the past 4 or 5 years I have done a lot to take care of my skin. I recommend to others to start as young as possible, as preventive treatments are now very attainable and costs are coming down. Start even in your 20's and 30's since you can now really control how you age.

I have done as much as I could afford, including sun screen, a lot of IPL photo-facial (literally dozens to my face, neck, decollete area, and some also for my hands and forearms, about a dozen micro needling sessions, one deep laser peel, and laser capillary treatment around the nose, about a dozen Radio frequency skin tightening sessions, a vampire face lift which included one tube of Juvederm, but I hated the placement of the Juvederm. The Vampire face lift was very good, especially for brightening grayish areas around my eyes that I didn't even realize were there. I will continue forever with full face IPL and vein/capillary treatments around my nose, as I still have some redness in my chin and nose areas.

Why I decided to do Ulthera: Now that I am in my 50's I am noticing significant loss of volume. I thought before that at least if my skin looked nice that I would age gracefully, but now I am very unhappy with the sagging skin and jowls. Fillers are probably what I need to do now, but the tighter my skin is, the less filler I will need to plump it up. Also, I would like to see if I can avoid artificial fillers entirely. I am very interested in micro fat grafting to my face. I have seen some really gorgeous results in my online searches.

So, here are my Before pictures in bright light and no makeup. I really hate to see my flaws up close like this, but... fingers crossed that I will have good results. If it works well, I will think about doing it again in 6 months, before my next birthday.

My experience: I took 800 mg Ibuprofen one hour before the procedure and 2 extra strength Tylenol 30 minutes before. It still hurt a lot, so I took the one Zanax that I filled in advance. The first half of the session was excruciating, but the 2nd half was much better with Zanax. I recommend that you bring a driver and take all the pain relief possible before hand. My technician told me that she has seen some clients cry, scream, and one even vomited but probably because she took meds on an empty stomach. Anyway, it hurts. Take all the pain relief that you can, with a bit of food...

I followed up the Ultherapy with my first Botox session. I had 40 units. This was not included in the cost of Ultherapy listed above. I am anxious to see what improvement I have. I do realize that I won't know how much improvement I get from Ulthera until the botox wears off, but I will definitely be able to see the results in my lower face, jowls, and neck.

Day Two: Minor swelling and bruising, but honestly, the swelling plumps up my face and isn't a bad look. It does make my jowls look boxier, though. Hopefully they will be a bit higher rather than just fuller. My face feels a bit tender but not painful.