HIFU in Makati 2026: Prices, Devices and What to Ask | ICONIQUE
HIFU in Makati 2026: What It Costs and What to Ask Before You Book
HIFU stands for high-intensity focused ultrasound. It delivers heat to a layer several millimetres under the skin, the same layer a surgeon tightens in a facelift, and the injury makes your body build collagen there over the following weeks. Nothing is cut and nothing is injected.
It works on early laxity: a jawline that has lost its edge, cheeks that have started to drop, a neck that has softened. It is not a facelift and it does not remove skin. If there is loose skin to be taken away, no amount of ultrasound will take it away.
Two honest limits before the price talk. The result arrives over two to three months, not on the day, so it is the wrong booking for a wedding next week. And it lasts about a year, because it works by rebuilding your own collagen and your own collagen keeps ageing.
What a session is like
The visit starts with an assessment in proper light, because the plan depends on where the laxity actually sits and no photograph over chat will show that.
The therapist maps the face, applies gel and works line by line. You feel heat and a brief deep prickle when the deeper cartridge fires; most clients rate it 2 to 3 out of 10 and occasionally 4 over bone. Sixty minutes for a full face.
You leave slightly pink and go back to work. Some tightening shows within days, which is swelling as much as lift. The real change arrives between the second and third month and holds for around a year.
When this is the wrong treatment
Skin that is genuinely loose
If skin hangs rather than softens, HIFU tightens what is there and leaves the excess. That is surgery, and we will say so at the consultation rather than take the booking. Somebody has to be the clinic that says it.
An event this week
The lift builds over two to three months. Book it three months before the wedding, not three days.
Very thin or very lean faces
Ultrasound heat works on tissue. On a face with little of it, the tightening can read as gaunt rather than lifted. This is a judgement made looking at you, not over chat.
Pregnancy, breastfeeding, or metal in the treatment area
We do not treat during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Implants, plates or fillers in the area change the plan, so tell us what you have and when it was done.
How it actually works
It works below the skin, not on it
A laser works on the surface and everything it does, it does on the way in. Focused ultrasound passes through the surface without heating it and converges at a set depth underneath, the way a magnifying glass gathers sunlight at one point. The skin you can see is not treated at all.
The layer it reaches is the one a surgeon lifts
Under the fat sits a sheet of connective tissue called the SMAS, the superficial musculo-aponeurotic system. In a facelift the surgeon lifts and fixes that sheet, which is why a facelift changes the shape of a face rather than the texture of it. HIFU heats the same sheet in small points, and the sheet contracts as it heals. Same layer, no incision, less effect.
Three depths, three different jobs
The handpiece takes cartridges and each one fires at a single fixed depth. 4.5mm reaches the SMAS and does the lifting. 3.0mm sits in the deep dermis and does the tightening. 1.5mm works just under the surface and is used around the eyes and on fine lines, where the tissue is thin. A face that only needs firming may want one depth. A jawline that has dropped wants the deep one, and most plans use at least two.
Why the result is late and then lasts
Nothing is removed and nothing is filled. The heat leaves points of controlled injury, and over the following weeks the body lays down new collagen along them. That is why there is very little to see on the day, why the change arrives between the second and third month, and why it fades over about a year as that collagen ages like the rest of you.
The machines on this market, including the ones we do not run
Ultherapy
The original, from Merz in the United States, and the only ultrasound system with US FDA clearance specifically for lifting the brow, the chin and the neck. It also shows the operator an ultrasound image of your tissue before firing, so the depth is chosen against what is actually there. Clinics in Makati quote it from about ₱35,000 and up. We do not run it, and if that clearance is what you want, you should go where it is.
Ultraformer III and Ultraformer MPT
Korean, from Classys, widely used across Asia and the most common serious alternative in Manila. No tissue imaging, a broader range of cartridges, considerably cheaper per session.
Doublo and Doublo Gold
Also Korean, an older generation, still in service in a lot of clinics. Fewer depth options and a coarser delivery than the Ultraformer line.
Sofwave and Liftera
Newer systems that work higher in the skin rather than at the SMAS. Different mechanism, gentler, and better suited to skin quality than to a dropped jawline.
7D and 12D systems, including ours
The number in the name is a marketing count of cartridges or modes, not a measure of power, and there is no standards body behind it. What matters is which depths the machine actually delivers and who is choosing them. Ours is a 7D system at ₱15,000 list. It is not Ultherapy, we say so before anyone asks, and the price reflects that.
What it costs in Makati, 2026
Published prices for HIFU around Makati run from about four thousand pesos to eighty thousand. That is a twenty-fold spread for a treatment sold under one name, and the spread is not clinics being greedy or generous. It is different treatments wearing the same three letters.
At the top, Ultherapy is the brand carrying US FDA clearance for lifting, and clinics quoting thirty-five thousand and up are usually quoting that. At the bottom, a package advertised at four thousand pesos on social media is a different device, a much smaller treated area, or both.
Our list price is ₱15,000 for a sixty-minute full-face session on a 7D HIFU system. Not Ultherapy, and we will say so before you ask. We run introductory promotions through most of the year, so ask for today's rate rather than assuming the list.
So the number to compare is not the price on its own. It is the price next to the device, the depths being treated and how much of the face is covered.
HIFU energy is delivered in lines across an area, and the areas differ. Two clinics can quote the same figure for the lower face alone and for the full face, and the second is doing far more work. Ask which areas the number covers before you compare it with anyone else's. We map the areas at the consultation and the quote follows from that, because a wide jaw and a narrow one are not the same job.
Which device, and is it Ultherapy?
Ultherapy is one specific system and it costs what it costs. Ultraformer, Doublo, 7D and 12D systems are different machines at different prices. None of that is dishonest as long as the clinic says which one it is running. Ask for the name of the machine, not the name of the treatment.
Which depths are being treated?
The handpiece uses cartridges, and each one works at a single depth: 4.5mm reaches the deep structural layer, 3.0mm the middle, 1.5mm the surface. A face usually wants more than one. A session run entirely on the shallowest is cheaper to deliver and does less, so ask which depths are in the plan and why.
Face only, or face and neck?
Half the price gap between quotes is this. The neck takes its own passes and its own time. Ask which areas the number covers before you compare it with anyone else's number.
Who is holding the handpiece?
The depth and the placement are decided by the person operating it, in real time. Ask how long they have been running this device specifically. At our Makati branch the therapists who perform HIFU have been with ICONIQUE for years, and you can meet the one who will treat you at the consultation.
These are the list prices. We run promotions through most of the year, so call or message for today's rate and for course pricing. The consultation is free either way.
How far it is from where you are
Distances measured from the door, not estimated.
Ayala Triangle and Ayala Avenue
Four minutes on foot. Most weekday bookings come from the towers on Ayala, taken at lunch or straight after work, which is the reason the room runs until eight.
Salcedo Village
Eight minutes on foot, or one stop if it is raining. Salcedo residents are the closest thing this clinic has to regulars.
Greenbelt and One Ayala
Nine and eight minutes respectively. If you are already shopping, the appointment fits inside the trip.
Legazpi Village and RCBC Plaza
Thirteen and sixteen minutes on foot, a few minutes by car.
Poblacion, Rockwell and Century City
Twelve to eighteen minutes on foot, five to ten by car. Century City has its own ICONIQUE branch on the ground floor of the mall, and if that is nearer to you we will say so rather than hold the booking.
BGC
Two and a half kilometres across the river. Worth the trip only if you want this branch specifically. Otherwise there are closer clinics and we would rather tell you that.
Where to find us in Makati
The lobby at Peninsula Manila, Makati Ave, Makati City, 1226 Metro Manila.
The entrance is on the hotel lobby level, beside the staircase.
Open daily, 10:00 AM - 8:00 PM.
Call or message +63 917 634 5259. The consultation is free, and it is where we say whether this is the right treatment for your skin or whether it is not.
Published prices run from about ₱4,000 to ₱80,000, because the name covers several different devices and very different treated areas. Our list price is ₱15,000 for a sixty-minute full-face session, with promotions running through most of the year.
Why is HIFU cheaper at some clinics?
Almost always a smaller treated area, a single shallow depth, or a different machine. Ask which areas and which depths the price covers, and the comparison stops being about the number alone.
Is your HIFU Ultherapy?
No. We run a 7D HIFU system and we say so before anyone asks. Ultherapy is a specific brand with US FDA clearance for lifting and it is priced accordingly. If Ultherapy is what you want, we would rather tell you where the difference lies than sell you something else under the same three letters.
Does HIFU hurt?
There is heat and a brief deep prickle as the deeper cartridge fires. Most clients rate it 2 to 3 out of 10 and occasionally 4 over the jawbone. No anaesthetic is used for the standard settings.
When will I see the result and how long does it last?
Some tightening shows within days, though early on that is partly swelling. The lift builds between the second and third month and holds for around a year, because it works by rebuilding your own collagen.
How many sessions do I need?
One, then a repeat at around twelve months. A clinic selling HIFU as a course of six is selling something else.
Where exactly is the clinic?
Inside The Peninsula Manila, on the corner of Ayala Avenue and Makati Avenue in Makati City. The door is on the lobby level, beside the staircase.
