Aesthetic culture has shifted due to the rise of noninvasive procedures. Patients are now seeking out less painful, less invasive, and less expensive procedures that have shorter recovery times. One of the newest approaches to nonsurgical facial tightening is the thread lift.
As many of you know, thread lifting is an aesthetic procedure that realigns and lifts sagging tissue. This adds definition to the contours of the face using threads manufactured from the same materials that are typically used to close wounds in surgery.
Thread lifting initially came into the market in the late 1990s. However, the early thread lifts were much more difficult. Nonabsorbable threads needed to be anchored into the temple, scalp, and brow area. Then the anchoring knots were carefully tied. They were also permanent.
Who is the ideal patient for the thread lift procedure?
Patients who are suitable for these procedures have sagging of the zygomatic malar region, forehead wrinkles, lax neck skin, a fat pad in the neck area, a double chin, eye wrinkles, naso-buccal deepening, or a slightly unclear mandibular margin. If the patient has excessive laxity of the skin requiring removal, advanced facial lipoatrophy, or advance cutaneous or muscular prolapse, they are not suitable for the procedure. Patients looking for immediate results or exaggerated lifting that is similar to traditional lifting will not be suitable for the procedure either.
How can you select the appropriate thread and suture technique for each patient?
In order to select an appropriate thread and suture technique, the physician needs to focus on the primary area of patient concern and the specific patient defect.
What results can you expect?
Depending on the actual tissue laxity as well as the type, location, and amount of threads used, the results can vary. The procedure should not be a replacement for fillers. It’s a combination of skeletal, skin, and soft tissue changes that cause facial aging by leading to volume loss and soft tissue laxity. Fillers are critical when it comes to restoring lost volume in the face and are helpful in combination with face-lifts, tightening lasers, and the thread-lift procedure.
Conclusion
While the thread-lift procedure is certainly a helpful procedure, it should not be used as a replacement for other facial rejuvenation procedures, but rather in combination with them. Thread lifts have a better outcome when combined with radiofrequency, fractional lasers and neuromodulators, and fillers.
When considering whether or not to offer patients the thread-lift procedure, it’s essential to obtain all of the information you need beforehand. To learn more about thread lifts–specifically Masterthreads PDO Thread Lifts–click here.
