Many patients who visit ARTÉ by Dr. M before the year-end holidays come in with the same question: should they book Ultherapy Prime, Sofwave, or XERF? If you have asked around at different clinics in Singapore, you have probably heard each one praised as the best non-surgical facelift.
In practice, these three machines are not interchangeable. They treat different depths of tissue, ranging from the deep muscle fascia at 4.5mm up to the mid-dermis at 1.5mm. A treatment that lifts heavy jowls on someone with fuller cheeks can easily hollow out a patient with a naturally lean face.
During a consultation, Dr. Michelle and Dr. Alfred look at two things first: how thick your facial tissue is, and which layer is actually causing the looseness.
Ultherapy Prime: For heavy jowls and a softer jawline
When your lower face feels heavy, marionette lines deepen, or tissue starts pooling along the jawbone, the looseness is coming from the SMAS (Superficial Musculoaponeurotic System) and platysma muscle bands. Surface tightening cannot lift heavy tissue once that deep foundation relaxes.
Ultherapy Prime focuses ultrasound waves down to 4.5mm to contract the SMAS, the same fibrous muscle layer plastic surgeons lift during a facelift while also treating the dermis at 3.0mm and 1.5mm.
Unlike other tightening devices that fire blind, Ultherapy Prime has a live ultrasound screen. Dr. Michelle and Dr. Alfred look at a real-time scan of your skin layers before firing each line, making sure the energy lands in the SMAS or dermis and stays away from bone, blood vessels, and fat pads.
Older Ultherapy machines had a reputation for sharp pain along the jawbone because slow pulses let heat build up on the nerves. Ultherapy Prime fires faster with shorter pulse durations. You still feel quick, hot pinpricks near bony areas, but numbing cream and adjusted energy settings make it much easier to sit through. Afterward, any mild redness fades within a few hours, though your jawline may feel slightly tender when washing your face for two to three days.
Sofwave: For fine lines, drooping brows, and slender faces
If you have a lean face with high cheekbones, your main concern is usually fine crinkling around the mouth, crepey cheek skin, horizontal neck lines, or heavy eyebrows along with a fear that deep heat might shrink your facial fat and leave you looking gaunt.
Sofwave avoids the fat layer completely by keeping all of its ultrasound energy at a fixed depth of 1.5mm in the mid-dermis. It fires seven parallel ultrasound beams at once to build collagen right where thin skin wrinkles, while a built-in cooling plate (Sofcool) chills the top of your skin throughout each three-to-five-second pulse.
Because the energy stops at 1.5mm and never touches deep fat or nerves, there is zero risk of losing cheek volume. You feel a brief wave of warmth at the end of each pulse, and your skin looks normal the moment you get up from the chair. You can put sunscreen and makeup on before leaving the clinic.
XERF: For soft skin that has lost its bounce
Some patients do not have heavy sagging jowls, but their skin feels thinner, softer, and slower to bounce back when pinched. That happens when the collagen network across the dermis thins out.
Rather than using ultrasound to heat tiny points, XERF (by Cynosure Lutronic) uses monopolar radiofrequency to warm the full thickness of the dermis from 1.0mm down to 3.5mm. It pairs two frequencies (6.78 MHz and 2 MHz) with surface cooling, allowing Dr. Michelle and Dr. Alfred to adjust how deep the heat travels based on your skin thickness.
Because the warmth spreads evenly across the tissue without sharp focal spikes, XERF is the gentlest of the three treatments. Patients usually compare it to a warm stone massage. Any light pinkness settles within an hour or two, and over the next four to eight weeks, fresh collagen and elastin tighten pores and firm the cheeks and jawline.
Combining devices when you have both sagging and surface lines
Many faces show more than one sign of ageing for example, heavy jowls along the jawbone paired with fine, crepey lines on the neck and around the mouth. No single machine treats the 4.5mm SMAS and the 1.5mm mid-dermis equally well.
In these cases, Dr. Michelle and Dr. Alfred often pair two devices in one treatment plan at ARTÉ by Dr. M. They use Ultherapy Prime at 4.5mm to lift the lower-face foundation, then use Sofwave or XERF to firm and smooth the upper dermal layers without over-heating any single depth.
Not sure which option suits your face?
Book a consultation with Dr. Michelle or Dr. Alfred at ARTÉ by Dr. M to have your skin thickness and facial structure assessed in person.
Cost in Singapore (and how to spot under-dosed packages)
When comparing prices across clinics in Singapore, look closely at the shot or line count included. Ultherapy Prime and Sofwave use single-use, manufacturer-certified cartridges that cost clinics a set amount per shot.
A proper full-face Ultherapy Prime treatment requires 600 to 800 lines, and a full-face Sofwave session requires 160 to 240 pulses. When a clinic advertises an unusually cheap full-face package (such as an "$800 full-face Ultherapy" promo), they are usually delivering only 200 to 300 lines across the whole face which is too sparse to produce a real lift or using unauthorized, hacked cartridges that fire unevenly and risk burns.
Under Singapore Ministry of Health guidelines, focused ultrasound and medical radiofrequency machines must be operated by licensed doctors rather than salon therapists. Because results from Ultherapy Prime and Sofwave last 12 to 18 months, a properly dosed session holds up on a once-a-year schedule.
How Dr. Michelle and Dr. Alfred map your treatment
Firing ultrasound or radiofrequency in a standard factory grid on every face can cause problems. Placing deep heat into naturally hollow temples or lean cheeks can flatten areas where you want to keep volume, while missing your natural ligament lines will fail to lift heavy jowls.
At ARTÉ by Dr. M, Dr. Michelle and Dr. Alfred watch how your tissue shifts when you speak and smile before marking your face. They map out which zones need deep SMAS lifting, which fat pads need to be left alone, and how many lines or pulses your skin actually needs to tighten naturally.
Frequently asked questions
How can I check that a clinic uses genuine devices in Singapore?
Ask to see the clinic's Certificate of Authenticity from the manufacturer, and check Merz Aesthetics Singapore's official clinic finder online to confirm the clinic is an authorized Ultherapy Prime provider.
To find out which treatment fits your face and your year-end calendar, book a consultation with Dr. Michelle or Dr. Alfred at ARTÉ by Dr. M.
