Ultherapy PRIMEin Seoul

Ultherapy PRIME is a non-surgical lifting treatment that heats tissue under the skin with focused ultrasound while the surface stays intact. It reaches deeper than most energy devices, down to the fibrous layer over the facial muscles, so it fits faces where the jawline, jowls, the area under the chin or the brow have started to drop.

Body weight and skin type affect the response. In a lower-face study, patients with a body mass index of 30 or below had better results than heavier patients (Oni et al., 2014). Very heavy sagging, or skin that hangs in folds, is beyond what a single session of heat can lift.

Because tenderness and bruising can last several days, the timing of your trip matters as much as your skin. The reasons to wait are listed below; most of them simply mean booking later.

Micro-focused ultrasound is ultrasound energy concentrated into a tiny point, the way a lens concentrates sunlight. At that point the tissue heats to the temperature at which collagen contracts, while the skin above and between the points is left untouched. Over the following weeks the body replaces the heated tissue with new collagen, and that is where the tightening comes from.

Ultherapy PRIME, made by Merz Aesthetics, belongs to the systems that show the tissue on an ultrasound image before the energy is released. The image displays the skin, the fat and the firm layer beneath, so the transducer depth can be matched to the face being treated. Different transducers target different depths, from the deep supporting layer that a surgical facelift tightens to the dermis closer to the surface.

A shot is one line of these heat points. The total number of shots therefore reflects how much area is treated and how closely the lines are spaced. Larger faces, more zones and denser coverage on the jaw and under the chin all raise the count.

Published results are moderate and support realistic expectations. In a lower-face study, about two thirds of patients and around 60% of blinded raters judged the skin improved at 90 days (Oni et al., 2014). In Asian patients, the clearest change after treatment was lifting under the chin at 90 days, and the authors suggested a further session could be considered after 3 months (Lu et al., 2017). A systematic review found improvement in patient and investigator ratings while noting that the included studies were limited in quality (Khan, 2021).

Ultherapy PRIME is the newer generation of the Merz ultrasound system, and it is the only version used at the clinic, so every shot plan on this page refers to PRIME.

The clinic prices Ultherapy PRIME by shot count, so four plans cover everything from a single small zone to a full face with the neck. Because one shot is one line of ultrasound points, the plan you need follows the number of zones and how closely the lines are placed, not a fixed price per face.

Each card gives the list price without tax, then the amount after Korea's 10% VAT, which is added when you pay. If you are deciding between two plans, ask for a written quote naming the zones each one covers, so you can see what the extra shots would be used for.

Heat placed under the skin causes predictable reactions, and a few uncommon ones:

• Tenderness to the touch along the jaw and cheeks for several days.
• Swelling and bruising, which can last longer than the tenderness.
• Raised red lines or welts that follow the treatment lines and fade on their own.
• Temporary numbness, tingling or nerve irritation, for example along the jaw.
• Small burns on the surface, a rare event linked to how the transducer is applied.
• Little or no visible change: in studies, a share of patients and raters saw no improvement.

A safety review found that side effects of micro-focused ultrasound with imaging were mostly mild and short-lived, and that the uncommon events were linked to incorrect technique (Hitchcock, 2014). Contact the clinic if numbness lasts beyond a few weeks, a blister forms or swelling increases after the first days.