11 Months Later: Not Worth It After All

I am saddened to finally accept this procedure is absolutely not worth it--at least not for me.

I had it done twice. The first time, it seemed to me the slight lift lasted less than a year, but hoped it was just my imagination, so I tried it again last summer. It was horrifically painful (the distressing experience left me a bit shaken for a long while, strangely). I was swollen for weeks, it took months to see a slight improvement, and then it all seemed to sink downward and deflated again--same experience as last time, despite my exertions to believe it totally works. I am astonished when I see how deeply droopy my face has become, and I'm only in my mid-forties. I may be someone who simply has extremely low collagen levels or something like this. I may even be in a minority whose skin actually gets worse after such a procedure--not sure.

It's been 3 months now. I still really don't see a difference when I look in the mirror, but it's possible my perceptions are off. There may have been some slight lift in the jowl area, but I definitely don't look more youthful. I find I look strangely drawn/tired all the time, and I wondered if I had further fat loss after the procedure, but I can't say for sure whether there's a connection to the Ultherap itself. When I saw pictures of myself from last year, I could see I definitely had more dewey fullness in my face back then. People regularly ask if I've lost weight or if I'm tired, with a concerned tone. Hm. Probably not a great sign. It could be a coincidence though! Some doctors have commented that there are further improvements after 3 months, so I'll continue to monitor.

I still have the uncomfortable zappy-numb feeling around my jawline and underneath, and it's somewhat painful to put cream/foundation on in that area. Over my cheekbones, I also feel stings when I put cream on. This in itself is only a minimal bother, but I'm concerned that the pain and strange feeling are lingering so long. I hope there wasn't some kind of inappropriate type of burning during the procedure. The little area that "zapped" over my skull still zaps if I touch it, but I think that's improving.

There is no change to my skin's tightness so far, but it's only been a month. Quite a few people have said I look very drawn and tired, and even more ask if I've lost weight. I'm trying not to run away with negative thoughts, but some days it looks like I've got less fat on my face, and I do look very tired all the time. I hope there's no fat atrophy going on. (If this were to happen, when would it happen? Immediately? Over weeks, months? Longer?) It could be a coincidence (and maybe I did lose 5 pounds or so in recent months). I'll report back as more time passes.