Facial threading, also called a thread lift, can be a cost-effective, beneficial procedure — as long as you’ve appropriately managed your expectations. While a thread lift isn’t a replacement for a surgical face-lift by any means, the right patient can get a lot out of it, experts say.
Thread lifts have actually been around since the 1990s, but the materials and techniques used in the procedure have evolved over time, Dr. Alan Matarasso, spokesperson for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, tells TODAY.com.
Originally billed as the “lunchtime lift,” facial threading can provide some rejuvenating effects, Dr. Ivona Percec, associate director of cosmetic surgery at Penn Medicine, tells TODAY.com.
But the term “is really a misnomer because they don’t provide that much lift in reality,” she says. “It’s temporary. They do not replace a face-lift.” When the public realized that the actual effects didn’t always match up with the marketing hype, thread lifts fell out of favor, Percec explains.
Over the last decade, though, patients have started to gravitate to thread lifts again — with a better understanding of what to expect, says Matarasso, who is also a clinical professor of surgery at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. And, in “appropriately selected patients,” facial threading could result in exactly what they’re after, he says.
What is a thread lift?
A thread lift is a minimally invasive procedure performed in-office. During the procedure, surgeons place small surgical threads under the skin, which are designed to catch and hold the tissue to provide a subtle tightening and lifting effect, Matarasso explains.
Thread lifts also provide a secondary benefit: As the threads dissolve and the tissue heals, the skin produces collagen in the area, which adds volume, Percec says. Together, the effects of a thread lift typically last one to two years.
On the spectrum of rejuvenation options, thread lifts sit somewhere in between fillers (which are…
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