Facial Threading

A thread-lift, also known as feather lift surgery, is a delicate cosmetic surgery procedure to gently, lift sagging facial skin to produce a smoother, more youthful appearance. If gravity has started to take its toll on your face, a thread lift may be a less invasive alternative to a facelift for rejuvenating the facial features without the risks and downtime associated with surgery. The thread-lift procedure involves very fine surgical sutures inserted into the soft tissue of the face to lift and support sagging areas. It cannot offer the same results as a full facelift but is a good option for a more subtle natural look. At Aesthetica Skin Centre, Dr Bianca Cowan performs a facial threading procedure in just one hour. She inserts thin threads into the face through tiny incisions made in the targeted area. These threads attach to the skin tissue and are then pulled back to lift and smooth the facial skin. The treated areas immediately uplift sagging skin and give patients a rejuvenated appearance. Because patients usually remain fully conscious during the procedure, they can approve the look of their thread lift while Dr Bianca Cowan does the work. Once the threads are knotted, they become hidden within the skin itself, and any scarring that results will be invisible.

Frequently Asked Questions:

If you are in your 30s or 40s and you want to improve your looks by enhancing and highlighting features lost due to premature ageing. You are an ideal candidate if the changes that have occurred in your face and neck are not severe enough to warrant a face or neck lift. The procedure is also for those who are not expecting dramatic changes, but subtle ones. Also, people of 50 and over can be good candidates if their skin sagging is not severe. In general, the procedure is ideal if you want to improve your looks by enhancing and highlighting features lost to premature ageing, improving sagging or loose skin on your face and neck.

The main facial indications are for forehead lines, eye bags and crows feet, jowls, sagging face, sagging neck, necklines, wrinkles on the décolletage area. The body indications are for sagging breasts, elbows, knees, upper arms, thighs, tummies and bottoms.

A thread lift is classified as a non-invasive procedure and is usually performed on an outpatient basis under local anaesthesia. The procedure takes around one hour to complete. The thread lift procedure involves making small incisions in key locations, most often in the hairline, and inserting a threaded needle under the skin to anchor both ends to lift and suspend the skin. Several variations of the threading technique exist, as a preference of the doctor, or to meet specific patient needs. Once the individual situation has been assessed, generally between 2 and 20 threads will be used. Thread lifting is a relatively new procedure. Although early thread lifts were performed using permanent threads, health professionals today, use dissolvable barbed threads. The barbs are embedded in the skin to promote fibrosis, the formation of new collagen bundles. The newly formed collagen acts as a scaffolding to hold up the skin, making it firm in the process. Skin tends to lose firmness and elasticity and sags with age because the volume of elastin and collagen fibre in the skin diminishes over time. Cells produce hyaluronic acid in response to the fibrosis, which attracts and builds moisture to make the skin firm and full. When the skin's microvessels become traumatised by the thread insertion, they open up, and new blood with oxygen and nutrients flow to heal them, which also results in younger-looking skin.

There will be some level of discomfort, swelling and bruising around the area after the procedure. This will gradually subside. You can expect to go home within several hours of the procedure. You can also expect to be back to normal activities 2 to 3 days later.

Thread lift procedures are very safe when performed by a suitably trained and qualified medical aesthetic practitioner with knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the area to be treated. According to the research studies, polydioxanone threads have a proven safety record in suturing procedures.

It is reasonable to expect improvement for 2 years. Further threads can be placed later to reproduce the improvement.

As with any cosmetic treatment, there might be some temporary swelling, redness or bruising. This usually passes within a couple of days. Results take around 4-6 weeks to fully develop. A follow-up session is recommended after the treatment to check on the progress, where before and after photographs will be compared and a top-up treatment provided if necessary.

We recommend that you avoid other facial/beauty treatments for 2 weeks. Also, dental work should be avoided for a month. Generally, exercise should be avoided for 2 weeks and contact sports for the first 4 weeks.

No, the thread lift procedure can be applied on the body too. It can help with several areas, e.g. lifting and rejuvenating loose abdominal skin (tummy), lifting of breast tissue, lifting the buttocks, regenerating the decolletage area, shoulders, forearm, elbows, calves or knees.

References:

Centenero, S.A., Stevens, M.R., & Ghasemi, S. (2020). Thread lift. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341452606_Thread_lift

Mercik, G. (2013). PDO thread lift: An innovative new treatment in non-surgical cosmetic medicine. Journal of Clinical & Experimental Dermatology Research. https://www.longdom.org/proceedings/pdo-thread-lift-an-innovative-new-treatment-in-non-surgical-cosmetic-medicine-1457.html

Tang et al. (2018). An innovative thread-lift technique for facial rejuvenation and complication management. Medicine, 97(21). https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/Fulltext/2018/05250/An_innovative_thread_lift_technique_for_facial.7.aspx

Collections: Facial Procedures

Category: Age Repair Prevent, Anti Ageing, Facial Contouring, Facial Lift Procedure, Wrinkles

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Facial Threading

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