Dear DR. Seckel. Can you tell me about the thread lift. Is it a non-surgical face lift? Thank you, Becky, Palm Beach, Florida
The Thread lift, Russian lift, or Feather lift is a facial rejuvenation technique that is supposed to lift or tighten the face by placing small threads, sometimes called Aptos® threads or Countour® threads, under the skin by using a needle to pass the thread under the skin. Some call this a non-surgical face lift but that is not correct, surgery is required to place the threads and lift the face. The threads have small barbs or hooks on them which attach to the underside of 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, the thread is tied and the knot is left under the skin.
This sounds great but there are problems with this facial rejuvenation or face lift technique. Most important 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 this technique as opposed to a real face lift.
Secondly, the thread lift has created funny looking depressions in the cheek, again an unacceptable result, which again requires surgery to remove the thread.
Third, when you pull the facial skin 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. I don’t think you want to walk around with those bulges showing on your face.
This procedure is promoted as useful for younger people who do not have much loose skin, I assume because the bulges will be less. Perhaps these younger people do not need a face-lift.
Finally the biggest danger of any face-lift is the potential to injure the nerves of the face. When I do a face-lift, I carefully watch for these nerves so I can avoid injuring them.
The thread lift is a blind procedure-that is the surgeon cannot see the nerves as he is passing the needle. It is easy for the surgeon to go too deep and injure the nerve-if this happens the face could be permanently paralyzed, a disaster.
If you need a face lift, have a face lift, by a board certified plastic surgeon. The thread lift is a heavily marketed “too good to be true” phenomena at this time.
Although the tread lift is marketed as a “no down-time” procedure, the bruising and swelling I have seen post operatively require significant recovery time. This is definitely a surgical procedure, but I include it in this chapter because it is widely advertised as a no down time non-surgical face lift, deceiving at best. The plastic surgery society is studying this lift at the present time. Anecdotal reports indicate that the results achieved by the thread lift don’t last. There have already been talk shows featuring some horrible results. Perhaps these suspension techniques will be perfected and be useful in the future, but at present I do not feel safe recommending them for my patients.
For further information read Save YourFace or contact me.
Boston, massachusetts