Dear Dr. Seckel,I have heard there is a new face-lift called the thread Lift or Russian thread lift that can rejuvenate the face without surgery. I have seen this called the non-surgical face lift. Is this true? Thanks, Julie, Santa Fe , New Mexico
Dear Julie,The quick answer is no, there is no true non-surgical face lift. A new procedure called skin tightenming has also been called a non-surgical face lift, but it is not really a face lift.
The face lift procedure called the thread lift or Russian lift, also called the Countour Lift or Aptos thread lift, is a technique that is supposed to lift or tighten the face by placing small threads under the skin by using a needle to pass the thread under the skin. The threads have small barbs or hooks on them which attach to the underside iof the skin, so as the doctor passes the needle under the skin up to a higher point on the face then back outside the skin and pulls up on the thread, the lower part of the facial skin is pulled upward, lifted, the thread is tied and the knot is left under the skin.
This sounds great but there are problems with the face lift called the thread lift or contour lift procedure. First, the thread lift or contour lift is a surgical procedure, not a non-surgical face lift as marketed. One important issue is that the threads can extrude or wear through the skin, cause an infection and require surgery to remove them. This surgery can cause facial scarring the thing you were trying to avoid in the first place by having the thread lift face lift as opposed to a real face lift.
Secondly, the thread lift or contour lift has caused funny looking divits or depressions in the cheek, again an unacceptable result, which again requires surgery to remove the thread and correct the divit left by the thread lift.
Third, when you lift the face or pull the facial sin up but do not remove the excess facial skin as is done in a normal face lift, you are left with an unsightly bulge high up on the cheek. Go ahead and push your cheeks and facial skin up while looking in the mirror. See that excess skin up high on the cheeks in front of your ear? The thread lift does not remove it. While the bulges may lessen with time, I don’t think you want to walk around with those bulges showing on your face.
Providers of the thread lift or countour thread face lift technique promote the thread lift for younger people without much skin excess-I assume because the above mentioned bulges will be less. For these younger people I would say maybe they don’t need a face-lift, but if they do the thread lift is too risky in my opinion.
Finally the biggest danger of any facelift is the potential to injure the nerves of the face. When I do a traditional facelift, I carefully watch for these nerves so I can avoid injuring them.
The thread lift is a blind procedure-that is the plastic surgeon cannot see the nerves. It is easy for the plastic surgeon to go too deep and injure the nerve-if this happens the face could be permanently paralyzed, a disaster.
Avoid this dangerous procedure and as yet unproven face lift procedure, it is not a non-surgical face lift. If you need a face lift, have a face lift, by a board certified plastic surgeon. The thread lift is a heavily marketed as a non-surgical face lift, it is in fact a surgical procedure with risks. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is.
The Plastic Surgery organizations are studying the thread lift and in the future with modifications such as minimal skin removal a modified thread lift procedure may be useful.
For further information visit my Boston Plastic Surgery Practice, read Save Your Face or contact me.
Boston, Massachusetts
Peabody, Massachusetts