Choosing between Thermage FLX and Ultherapy

Thermage and Ultherapy are the two most established non-surgical lifting platforms. Both offer meaningful results without surgery, both are gradual, and both require a single annual or biannual session rather than a course. The choice between them depends on what is going on in your skin.

Thermage FLX uses monopolar radiofrequency to heat the deeper dermis, stimulating collagen contraction and remodelling across the months that follow. The effect is broad, particularly good for overall skin tightening, jowls, the neck, and laxity that is more about thinning skin than dropping structure. One session, around 60 to 90 minutes depending on the area, with results building over four to six months.

Ultherapy uses microfocused ultrasound to deliver heat at very specific depths, the same plane a surgeon works in during a facelift. The effect is more lifting and structural, particularly good for the brow, the deep jawline, and the under-chin area. One session, again around 60 to 90 minutes, results building across two to six months.

How to decide between them. If your concern is "my skin looks thinner and less firm overall," Thermage is usually the right answer. If your concern is "my jawline has dropped" or "my brow is heavy," Ultherapy is usually the right answer. For many clients in their late forties and beyond, the combination across one year, Thermage first, then Ultherapy six months later, delivers the most complete result.

Both treatments have a discomfort component. We use topical anaesthetic, breaks during the session, and conservative settings to make them tolerable. Most clients describe the sensation as warmth with intermittent sharper pulses.

Both have minimal downtime, you walk out, no recovery period, no obvious change for the first few weeks. The lifting happens slowly.

Neither replaces a facelift. They are non-surgical, and the results, while real, are subtler than what surgery delivers. For the right candidate, that is exactly the appeal.