As we age, our skin loses its youthful appearance, and signs of ageing become more and more obvious. Fine facial lines and sagging skin are just two ageing indicators, but they are important areas to address because these early signs of ageing indicate a breakdown of the skin’s tissues. The face and neck areas are common areas of concern, but a thread lift procedure can also be used to address other areas of concern such as sagging buttocks, and wrinkly knees and elbows.
A thread lift procedure is a shorter procedure type that focuses on targeting the signs of ageing on the lower face and involves the subcutaneous placement of PDO threads which are pulled to achieve the desired skin lift effect. Although it can address eyebrow sagging and cheek sagging, thread lift often focuses its attention on midface, jowl, and neck-lifting.
The goal of a thread lift is to reposition skin tissues, thus restoring youthful proportions and appearances to the face, neck, and body. This lifting and tightening are done by a plastic surgeon who inserts a needle into the skin, threading it bi-directionally through the soft tissues of the face, neck or body to grasp, lift and suspend the facial area. Surgeons use a “cross-hatch” or “basket weave” pattern to achieve the desired lifting effect in the targeted areas. The minimally invasive procedure provides immediate results, but its greater purpose is to encourage new collagen production to stimulate long term results and restore a youthful appearance in the treated areas.
Before treatment starts, we will apply a topical numbing agent and local anesthetic to the treatment site. The needle used during this treatment is so fine it will not cause any pain. Howeve, we provide anesthesia to ensure you feel no discomfort during the treatment.
Once the anesthetic has taken effect, your treatment will begin. The PDO threads are inserted via blunt tip needles, called cannulas, or sharp-tipped needles. Once inserted into the appropriate layer of skin, they act as anchors as the skin is lifted upwards. Then, the excess threads are cut off.
There are several types of PDO threads, and each serves its own unique purpose. Depending on your aesthetic goals, your PDO provider may use one or many thread types during your anti-aging treatment.
There are two primary types of PDO threads, These are floating non-barbed threads and floating barbed threads. Sub-classifications of non-barbed threads include braided threads and mono-filament threads.
Because a PDO thread lift is so versatile, it can treat virtually any area of the face. These include the:
The cheeks and the lower face/neck region are the most commonly treated. The cheeks and lower face are great regions to treat because they lend themselves so well to synergistic skin lifting treatments like Ultherapy.
A thread lift requires very little recovery time because of its non-invasive nature, but it is still helpful to have a basic idea of when you can expect to return to normal living.