How does HIFU facelift work? This is a question I get asked a lot in my Medispa. I’ve carried out this along with other non surgical treatments hundreds of times. It’s a great advance in anti-ageing for those who don’t want to go under the knife. So here’s what you need to know:
What is HIFU?
HIFU stands for High Intensity Focused Ultrasound. It’s a machine based treatment, which is now regarded as the world’s most advanced non surgical facelift.
It involves involves using a handpiece, which is passed across the skin over and over again. The machine emits very precise ultrasound waves, which penetrate the skin at different depths. Â If you could look inside the skin, you would see rows and rows of dots or hot spots where the ultrasound hits.
The idea is that we are targeting a really deep layer called the SMAS layer. This is the layer that a surgeon gets hold of and lifts in a surgical facelift.
With HIFU however, there are no incisions, no surgery and no downtime.
How does HIFU facelift work?
The focused ultrasound goes deep down, hitting the SMAS layer in the skin. A treatment involves hundreds and hundreds of ‘shots’ of ultrasound over the areas. It causes the SMAS layer to heat up, shrink and tighten. This is what causes the skin above to lift and tighten.
HIFU can target the face, jawline, neck, forehead and around your eyes. Â You can have individual areas treated, or you can have them all covered in one treatment.
What are the side effects?
There are very few side effects immediately after the treatment. You may look slightly pink, or you could possibly get a bruise but that’s unlikely. You will feel that your face is a little bit tender in places.
Having the treatment can be painful, but it depends on the machine and also the area of the face. Â Some areas are painless, other areas feel sore.
It’s a strange feeling like the treatment has been carried out deep inside your face. Almost like dental work. It can just feel slightly sore particularly around the jaw line, but there aren’t any long lasting side effects or pain.
How soon will you see results?
It takes around six weeks for the full effect to start taking place. So, you will see maximum results between around six to twelve weeks after the treatment. The results will last between nine and twelve months. So you would only plan to have this treatment done once a year.
How effective is HIFU?
It can be extremely effective if carried out on the right person. However it’s very difficult to quantify the visible improvement you’ll see.
Some clients will get great results and some will get less impressive results. It’s important to take photographs before and after, as it’s often difficult to see improvements on yourself which take place over time. Let’s face it, you don’t really see yourself getting older do you. Well the same is true for reversing the ageing process.
You must remember that although it’s a great advancement in non surgical anti-ageing, it’s not going to give you the results of surgery. Â That said, considering it’s a procedure with no side-effects and no incisions it’s an impressive treatment.
___________________________________________________________________
If you have any questions regarding HIFU please feel free to email me at rach@radiantliving.co.uk
Or you can visit our HIFU treatment page here.
