It is for most people uncomfortable rather than painful, in our experience, and the discomfort usually eases when the session ends, though tenderness can last up to two weeks. Each line of focused ultrasound makes a row of tiny heat points below the skin, and you feel it as a brief deep heat and a deep ache, strongest where the bone is close to the surface, over the jaw and under the chin. In the published studies patients rated it between about 4 and 6 out of 10, with a pooled average of 4.85 from 785 patients in a 2025 analysis. A full face and neck session is 60 to 90 minutes, a brow or chest alone about 30, and in our experience most people describe it as something to get through rather than something to fear.
Why it feels the way it does
Ultherapy heats points of tissue at 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5 mm below the surface to a temperature that sets off the body's healing response, which builds new collagen, while the surface of the skin is left untouched. The sensation is the heat reaching the deeper layers beneath the skin. The clinician watches the layers on the console's live ultrasound image, which is how the energy is placed in the tissue that responds and kept away from bone and nerves.
How the clinician manages it
Merz, the manufacturer, prescribes no fixed comfort plan and leaves it to the practitioner. At our clinic the clinician agrees the plan with you at the free consultation, offers a numbing cream or a simple oral painkiller, and turns the energy down if you need it. Tell the clinician as you go; the energy comes down at once if a zone is too much. If your pain threshold is low, say so at the consultation and the plan is set around it.
Afterwards
The skin is a little red for a few hours and may be swollen for one to three days and tender for up to two weeks, and some people have bruising or a passing numbness or tingling along a nerve that settles within weeks. The manufacturer's label lists these and reports no lasting nerve injury in its trials. Most people are back at work the same day, in our experience, and makeup can go on the next day. The can Ultherapy go wrong page sets out the rare risks plainly, and the full Ultherapy guide the whole treatment.
Book a free consultation
Call Ultherapy London on 0207 043 8109 or use the form below. The clinician goes through the comfort plan with you and gives you the price per area in writing.
