What’s The Real Difference Between Sofwave And Ulthera?

1. What’s the real difference between Sofwave and Ulthera?

Both Ulthera and Sofwave make use of Ultrasound energy to stimulate the body to make new collagen, and most importantly – to tighten and firm by creating new collagen. 

The real difference between the two treatments is the depths at which that energy is delivered. 

Ulthera is delivered at 1.5mm, 3.0mm, and 4.5mm, whereas Sofwave focuses in only at the 1.5mm depth, which is the middle-to-deep layer of the skin where collagen is most abundant.That one, seemingly small, difference changes the results, discomfort, cost, and time of treatment – which is everything we know patients care about most.

2. Treatment Time: Which is Faster?

Sofwave is a faster treatment by far, because the handpiece is much larger (and thus covers a larger treatment area with each pulse. For both Ulthera and Sofwave, you do two passes over each area in each treatment session.

3. Pain & Anesthesia: Sofwave vs. Ulthera

We’ve never had a patient who had to stop their Ulthera treatment due to the discomfort, but we do acknowledge it’s not a pain-free experience – and neither is Sofwave.

Ulthera is most uncomfortable during the deepest treatment depth, and that’s because the ultrasound is targeting muscles and occasionally can hit on bone, both of which are very uncomfortable. 

4. Downtime

Neither procedure has downtime. You might find your skin is a bit flushed for an hour or so. This can easily (and safely) be covered with makeup.

Some patients have reported their skin feels a bit firm to the touch following treatment, and a few have had mild soreness. This lasts for a few days at most, and isn’t something everyone experiences. It’s also not something anyone else would be able to see or notice – so there’s no need to take time off work or any social activities with either of these treatments.

5. Time to Results: Is Ulthera or Sofwave Faster?

Scientifically speaking, no matter the device used, it takes about 3-6 months for your body to build new collagen.

So the full results from either of these won’t be seen until that time.

Anecdotally, in our experience, patients notice a result in the mirror from Sofwave much sooner – the skin looks great the first 7-10 days after Sofwave, plump and smoother, which is probably due to very mild edema (swelling) in the skin.

The final results takes about 2-3 months.

Ulthera can cause welts in the 1st week and final results take 3-6 months.

Type of Results: Is Ulthera or Sofwave Better at Achieving Dramatic Results?

Neither Ulthera nor Sofwave is inherently better than the other – they’re different, and the work best for different types of people.

If you have primarily skin quality issues – meaning you have lots of crepey or thin skin, characterized by collections of lots of fine lines (as opposed to deep folds or wrinkles) –then Sofwave is a great choice for you.

If, however, you have deeper wrinkles and folds, and the cause is not just loose skin, but also sagging muscles, which usually occurs later in life, then Ulthera (or perhaps even a facelift) is a better choice for you.