Thread Lift: A New Kind of Face Lift
A Thread Lift or Barbed Suture is a relatively new plastic surgery technique for individuals who want to avoid the cost or recovery of cosmetic surgery. It’s a minimally-invasive procedure that takes years off your face within minutes by lifting areas such as the furrows between your nose and the corners of your mouth, droopy chins, cheeks, sagging necks, eyelids, and sagging areas of the brow by utilizing minute surgical thread (sutures).
This is how it works. The thread has barbs on one end and teeth on the other. When the thread is inserted, it grabs and lifts the sagging skin with the barbs and fastens the skin to the facial tissue below. There are no scars, no incisions, and no stitches.
Who is An Ideal Candidate for a Thread Lift?
The ideal candidate for this technique is someone with minimal signs of facial aging or sagging who wants a subtle improvement with minimal downtime. Patients with lax skin or deep folds would likely be disappointed if they want dramatic results. They’d be better off going for a full facelift or a mid facelift.
The Pros:
Minimally Invasive-This outpatient procedure is typically done at a surgical center and takes anywhere between 30-60 minutes. Local anesthesia is used, which allows the patient to give immediate feedback to the plastic surgeon.
More Affordable than a conventional Face Lift
Quick Recovery-Less than one week. Some patients resume work after 2 to 3 days while others return the next day wearing thin, flesh colored bandages. Recovering patients need to refrain from rubbing their face or eating foods that require a lot of chewing. Side Effects are minimal bruising, swelling and soreness
The Cons:
Results of Thread Lift are more subtle than the standard face or brow lifts. There’s also the chance of no noticeable change.
Results last 3 years until new threads are inserted or until existing threads are tightened. Due to its recent development in the plastic surgery world, its techniques are still being improved upon, which accounts for its considerably varied results among patients.
Risks
Like any procedure, however minimal, risks are involved. They include an outside chance of irregular skin appearance, puckering, poking of thread through the dermis, migration of threads, asymmetric results, infection and thread visibility.
Thread Lift Technique
The plastic surgeon starts off the procedure by placing a needle through the skin in a key area. Then the surgeon places a threaded needle and raises the facial tissue. Once inserted, the barbs located on the thread will secure themselves into place. Before the sutures are anchored, the surgeon will make sure the desired areas are shaped and lifted. Finally, the threads are cut close to skin of the temple hairline.
Finding an Experienced Plastic Surgeon
Don’t take chances on your face. Even if you live in “Plastic Surgery Los Angeles,” you still should do thorough research. Usually the best plastic surgeons are board-certified because they have the most knowledge of the thread lift procedure.
Before choosing a plastic surgeon, do the following:
Meet with the surgeon and ask him/her about his educational background, credentials, training, his board certification (he should be an American Board of Plastic Surgery—ABPS—certified plastic surgeon which permits him to do both body and facial procedures) and the number of times he has performed these lifts. Ask if there have been any problems with the results of previous patients. Also, you can call the California Medical Board to verify the surgeon’s history of complaints, if any.
Verify his board certification by visiting https://www.abms.org/. While checking this out, make sure to notice that the Certification should be in plastic surgery, not surgery. If it just indicates surgery, that’s NOT the same as plastic surgery. Also, cosmetic surgeons ARE NOT plastic surgeons.
Ask to see before and after photos of the procedures HE has performed. Most surgeons have a notebook filled with different procedures/results, but some have been cut out from magazines or brochures. Tell him, or better yet, bring a photo of the results you what. Ask him if those results are obtainable.
Ask which technique of thread lift (there are 2 different ones) is best for your expected results. Remember, different surgeons employ different techniques and equipment for the procedure.
Ask where the procedure would be performed—at a hospital, his office or a surgical center?
Request and review a copy of the pre-op and post-op care instruction list.
Cost of Procedure
Thread Lifts in Los Angeles, like most cosmetic procedures, are elective, which means that they are not covered by most insurance companies. The cost of this procedure depends on the need of the patient and/or the plastic surgeon’s experience. It varies anywhere from $1,500 to $4,500. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported that average fee for thread lifts was $2,443 in 2006. If financial assistance is needed, some plastic surgeons do offer payments plans or can set you up with a loan from the financial group that they work with.