Ul-therapy a new, non-invasive way to erase wrinkles

First there was the face lift - then came fillers - and now there's a new way to tighten skin and erase wrinkles with very little downtime in this FDA-approved treatment.

It's the first place people look when they see you and the first place you notice signs of aging. But what if you could tighten your face without major surgery?

"It's the first FDA-approved treatment and technology to actually lift and tighten your tissue," said Dr. Craig Vander Kolk, MD, a plastic surgeon at Mercy Medical Center.

This is ul-therapy. It uses ultrasound energy to heat up layers of tissue, causing them to shrink, tighten and make new collagen.

"I can target the layers that I want and actually see it as it's actually being treated," Vander Kolk said.

The procedure can treat areas on the neck, cheek, jawline and eyebrows - and it's completely non-invasive.

"It's kind of a nice change in technology, allowing me to treat something very accurately but without making an incision," Vander Kolk said.

A neck lift requires about 10 days of downtime. With ul-therapy, patients can go back to work right away. Surgery typically costs up to $12,000. The non-invasive treatment runs about $3,500. But the results may not be as dramatic.

"This is going to actually improve things 40-50 percent," Vander Kolk said.

Dawn Lichtenberg had ul-therapy three months ago.

"As I get older, I'd noticed that my jowl line had started to sag, and my neck was looking a little bit loose," she said.