Best Face Forward

5 minute read

I first noticed my jawline heading (slowly) south when I was in my mid-thirties: a slight softening and the beginnings of very mild jowls just above either side of my chin. No big deal, I thought. I’ll ramp up the facial massage and start using my Gua Sha a bit more religiously.

A couple of years later, and much to my frustration, not a whole lot has changed. So I decided it was time to do something about it. Enter Ultherapy.

Merz Aesthetics Ultherapy is an FDA-approved treatment that uses visualisation and ultrasound technology to stimulate collagen in the skin naturally. Often described as a non-invasive facelift, it goes deeper than other non-invasive treatments, such as laser and radiofrequency, and promises to lift, sculpt and tighten the skin over time. It’s most commonly used on the jawline, neck, cheeks, and eyebrows, but it can also be used on the chest to improve the appearance of lines and wrinkles on the décolletage.

To say I was nervous about getting Ultherapy would be an understatement. Let’s just say my pain threshold isn’t great. I read (too much) online about the pain aspect, about swelling and bruising post-treatment, and about it feeling too ‘hot’, but mainly about it being painful. It didn’t help that I kept googling ‘Ultherapy, pain’.

So, how does it work? Ultherapy uses ultrasound energy to heat targeted tissue under the surface of the skin, which is how it stimulates the natural production of collagen. This is where the pain part can (sometimes) comes in. The tissue is heated at two different levels of your skin; on the connective tissue and in the deeper muscle layer under the skin. It has been likened to feeling like an elastic band flicked against the skin, but the experience can differ for everyone depending on individual sensitivity levels.

‘It’s absolutely the gold standard for lifting and tightening’, a dermatologist friend told me. ‘You should definitely do it. It really does work’. With my mind made up, I put Google down and made my way to Beacon Dermatology and Face Clinic to see Dr. Orla Grimes.

The National Specialist for Ultherapy in Ireland, I knew I was in good hands as soon as I met Orla. We spent a few minutes chatting about the treatment, how it would feel, and the results I could potentially achieve. She handed me a brochure with more information, a handful of painkillers to reduce any pain I might feel, and then sent me downstairs to take them and have a cup of tea, with instructions to come back in 15 minutes.

A quarter of an hour later, suitably calm and ready to go, Orla kicked things off by carefully marking out the treatment areas on my face with a surgical skin pencil - focussing on the neck and jawline only so that the treatment would be as accurate as possible. She then prepared the ultrasound heads – there are two; one for the connective tissue and one for the deeper muscle layer.

‘You are actually the perfect candidate for Ultherapy’, she said, turning my face this way and that as she scanned my skin with one of the devices. ‘You’re young, with only a minimal loss of elasticity, so you should see great results.’

Pre-treatment scanning done, she pointed to the screen and explained that the moving lines I could see were actually the different layers of my skin with the muscle visible beneath. ‘Ultherapy works on the SMAS’, she explained. ‘This is the short term for Sub-Muscular Aponeurotic System. It’s a thin layer of strong connective tissue that gives structure to the face. Over time, and as we age, the SMAS starts to lose its elasticity,’ she said. This is why brows droop, jawlines start to become soft, and double chins make an appearance. Ultherapy reaches below the surface of the skin, right down to these layers you can see, to target the same SMAS layer as a facelift - which is why it’s so effective.

Suitably impressed, I lay back and thought of my jawline. Orla got to work on one side of my face and started moving the device this way and that, zapping as she went. It wasn’t uncomfortable; it really did feel just like an elastic band flicking against my skin.

The first layer done; she then moved to the other side of my face. After this, she returned to the same layer on both sides. Consistency is key, she explained. ‘We have to make sure all areas of the face are targeted evenly, so you get even results’.

Once the top layer was done, it was time to move on to the deeper layers. This required changing from one device to another, along with a little pep talk from Orla. ‘Just tell me when it hurts or if it feels like too much, and I’ll move to another area. This part of the treatment can be a little uncomfortable for some’.

Uncomfortable was the right word, as I could feel it zapping more intensely into the deeper layers of my skin. It didn’t make me want to hop off the table screaming, but I did grit my teeth quite a few times, and on two occasions, I asked Orla to give me a second so I could exhale and mutter ‘Jesus Christ’ under my breath. Orla worked really fast, and before I knew it, we were on to the neck area. I experienced similar levels of discomfort here, but as it’s a much smaller area, it was over in no time.

‘You’ll experience some swelling in the next day or two, and maybe some mild bruising’, she said. ‘There is no return treatment required. You should see results in 2-3 months and the results will last for up to two years.’

I left the clinic feeling great, with some slight tenderness on either side of my face. Over the next two to three days, I experienced a fair amount of swelling, some numbness, but no bruising. The clinic called me 24 hours after my treatment to check in. They told me what I was experiencing was normal and that it would dissipate in the coming days.

One week post-treatment, I was completely back to normal, with some lingering sensitivity. And one month later, I’m already seeing results, with definite lifting and tightening in both the jaw and chin area. If it tightens and lifts any further, let’s just say I’ll be beside myself.

Ultherapy is available at leading aesthetic clinics across Ireland. Visit www.ultherapy.com for more information.