Ultherapy

Q: Dr. Eppley, Do you know anything about Ultherapy? I had it ten months ago and had my ass handed to me. I developed not just volume loss (a ton) but it shrunk my eyes. I’m not sure if it was just the muscles or the vitreous humor as well. I’ve seen this with quite a few women. Not sure if you know medically/technically what is going on, but even if it is impossible to fix, I’d love to have a scientific explanation.

A: Like many facial skin tightening devices, they work by driving various forms of energy into the skin. This almost always results in the creation of heat whose effects will pass some distance below the skin. Thus the scientific explanation is simple….the energy driven below the tissues causes fat loss/atrophy. It is a simple function of heat and its effects on the fat cells. Fat cells are very sensitive to heat that exceeds 40 to 45 degrees Centigrade and such temperatures have well known fat atrophy/loss effects and is even the basis for devices who are for treating excess fat.  Why Ultherapy would cause periorbital fat loss when that area was not directly treated I can not say.

Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana