Advanced thread lifting in medical aesthetic practice

There is great demand from patients for non-surgical or minimally invasive surgical aesthetic procedures that can lift the face and neck. With the promise of a non-surgical rhytidectomy or facelift, thread lifts have become a popular treatment.

Absorbable materials, such as polydioxanone (PDO) and polylactic acid (PLA), are common thread materials. In the author's experience, using such threads, they can provide shorter term improvement (6–12 months) and are mostly suitable for a younger patient with faces that are not too heavy. This is due not only to the nature of the threads, which lose their tensile strength within months (depending on the material), but also the techniques used for their placement. All techniques used in the temporary (dissolvable) threads employ minimal or no anchoring. This leads to less obvious lifting, compared to those that are anchored. Part of the reason as to why those techniques do not provide anchoring is that those threads lack sufficient length. In this article, three case studies will be shared that demonstrate the use of silicone-based permanent threads that achieve, in the author's experience, a greater and longer-lasting lift. This is due to the permanent nature of the threads (nylon core and silicone-barbed coating), as well as their length, which allows the use of anchoring techniques for better results and longevity. The author must emphasise that, despite the threads being permanent, the results never are, and they are not marketed as such. No cosmetic procedure brings permanent results.