Two people can get the same laser lifting treatment and see different results because facial structure—bone support, skin thickness, and where volume sits—varies from person to person. Here’s what we look at during a consultation and how we decide the order for treating sagging and hollowing.
Hi, this is DAYONE Clinic. Say you and a friend have the same lifting treatment. Your friend says their face looks more refined, but you can’t really see much of a difference. Or maybe you were happy with how you looked right afterward, only to feel the results faded faster than you expected.
When that happens, many people assume “my skin just doesn’t respond to it” or “maybe it was the device.” But when we examine patients in the clinic, the story often turns out a little differently. The issue usually isn’t the treatment itself—it’s that the structure of the face being treated differs from person to person. If you’re considering laser lifting, here are a few things worth thinking through before your consultation.
No new wrinkles, so why do you look different?
In their 40s, many patients tell us, “I don’t have that many more wrinkles, but I just don’t look the way I used to.” Many also say their face seems to be sliding down in photos, or that even with makeup they don’t look as polished as they once did.
Aging is often thought to start with wrinkles, but what gives your face its shape lies much deeper. Think of the facial bones—and the retaining ligaments that hold skin and fat in place over them—as the supporting pillars. Fat, fascia, and skin sit on top of that support structure.
It’s a bit like a building: when the steel frame is solid, the exterior doesn’t sag easily. As that support gradually weakens with age, your facial contours and the position of your facial volume can look different, even if you don’t have many wrinkles. That’s why the skin’s surface alone can’t tell you why your appearance has changed.
Why do some people sag faster than others their age?
Among people the same age, some keep a fairly firm facial shape while others notice changes much sooner. A few factors are at play. The first is bone structure: how well the bones that support the center of your face, like the cheekbones, hold things up can affect how much your skin and fat descend.
You may have heard that people with strong bone structure tend to age better. This is why that’s more than just a myth.
The second factor is skin thickness. People with thinner skin tend to get fine lines more easily from the same stressors, while people with a thicker dermis tend to form shallower creases with the same expressions. Skin thickness is largely inherited and hard to change, but sun protection, moisturizing, and antioxidant care to keep it from thinning further are still well worth it.
The third factor is easy to overlook: volume in the upper eyelids. When you’re young, fullness above the eyes can feel like a drawback. With age, though, losing that volume can make the eyes look sunken and give you a tired look. Many people focus only on their cheeks or jawline, which is exactly why we need to look at the face’s overall structure and how its volume is distributed.
What does laser lifting actually target?
“Laser lifting” gets used a lot, but it’s really an umbrella term for treatments that deliver energy in different ways and at different depths. Some, like Ultherapy, use ultrasound energy to heat the relatively deep fascial layer known as the SMAS; others, like Thermage, use radiofrequency to target skin firmness and texture. It’s less a question of which is better than of which layer of your face needs what kind of change.
This is where facial structure comes back in. For someone with thin skin, a thick fat layer, or cheeks that already look hollow, the depth, placement, and intensity of the energy have to be set differently, even within the same treatment. That’s why the same device and the same number of pulses can produce different results on faces with different structures. So before you settle on a device, it’s important to first assess your skin thickness and the depth of your SMAS and fat layers.
What do our physicians look for in a consultation?
At DAYONE Clinic, we don’t start a consultation with a treatment already picked out. We begin by examining your face and skin as they are now, in front of a mirror. We look at which direction the sagging is going and how far it has progressed, your skin’s thickness and elasticity, and the depth of your fat and fascial layers. We also pay close attention to whether it’s sagging alone or whether there’s hollowing too.
Then we look at the balance of your whole face, including the upper eyelids, cheeks, and jawline, and finally we listen to what you’d like to change. Along the way, we also talk about how the change you want and the change that suits your face aren’t always the same.
Say you come in wanting a more defined jawline. If your cheeks are already hollow, high-intensity energy could actually be too much for your face. On the other hand, if firmness and texture concern you more than sagging, we may take a different approach. Even when two people come in with the same concern, it’s only natural for their treatment plans to differ based on what we find.
Sagging and hollowing: does the order matter?
It helps to think of facial treatments the way you’d think about building a house. First comes the foundation: lifting what has sagged and filling what has hollowed. Then comes the interior work—skin firmness and texture. Finally, there’s ongoing maintenance, like Botox. In that sequence, laser lifting can play a role in refining and maintaining firmness and texture.
Some patients in their 40s and 50s tell us they kept going back for skin-tightening treatments even though their sagging was already pronounced, and weren’t very happy with the results. In these cases, it helps to consider whether the sagging should be addressed first, or whether hollow areas need some minimal correction. On the other hand, if sagging isn’t noticeable yet, using laser lifting to maintain firmness and slow the pace of change may be the right approach.
The right order isn’t determined by age alone; it depends on where your face is right now. You also don’t have to do everything at once. Tackling the most pressing issue first and going step by step can still lead to natural-looking results.
What do we look at after treatment?
Our conversation doesn’t end when the treatment does. Laser lifting results show up over time rather than right away, so we reassess after some time has passed to see what has actually changed. We check whether the areas you wanted to target changed enough and whether your face looks balanced and natural overall, and if needed, we decide together how to fine-tune. From there, we move on to a maintenance plan.
Day to day, the basics are sun protection, moisturizing, and antioxidant care to help keep your skin from thinning, and treatment intervals are adjusted as your face changes. We believe results settle in much more naturally when everything—from the first consultation through treatment, follow-up and touch-ups, and maintenance—flows as one continuous process.
The bottom line
When you start researching laser lifting, device names, the number of sessions, and prices tend to jump out first. But what really matters is the current state of your facial structure and what kind of change would look natural on it. The same treatment may work well for one person while another needs a different approach.
At DAYONE Clinic, our priority is helping your face look softer and more youthful while still looking like you. The goal isn’t simply to make you look younger—it’s to find changes that leave you looking refreshed without losing what makes your face yours. Before deciding on a treatment, we recommend starting with a consultation about where your face is right now.
This article is general information about the treatment and does not replace an individual diagnosis or treatment plan. Results and their duration vary from person to person.
Wondering what would suit you?
Whether a treatment suits you, and how to plan it, is best decided with a doctor.