Living in a world obsessed with youth and attractiveness – especially in the current era of Instagram, FaceTime, and Zoom – you may find yourself wishing your face was a little more lifted and younger-looking each time you glance in the mirror. While there’s nothing wrong with experiencing the natural aging process or your inherited facial characteristics, you might also realize you want to do something about it. That’s why facial cosmetic treatments like our no-downtime, non-surgical absorbable thread lift using injectable threads are becoming increasingly popular.

What Is a Thread Lift?

Dr. Annie Chiu at The Derm Institute at North Redondo Beach, California, proudly offers a cosmetic procedure designed to lift and sculpt the shape of your face, neck or other areas of your body. Using temporary, medical-grade barbed suture material, thread lifts are a completely nonsurgical way to give the skin a lift without adding extra volume, lifting loose skin via sutures injected under the skin.  Common areas to use threadlifts address lower facial laxity, jowling, heaviness of the lower face and jawline area, and neck laxity.  But that’s not all — inserting threads triggers your body’s healing response and induces new collagen production. Results of the lift can be seen immediately, although continued collagen production makes for even more peak results around 1 month post treatment. New collagen stimulated by threads can help continue to tighten your sagging skin and restore youthful elasticity and lift.  

What Are Injectable Threads?

The injectable threads technology employed by Dr. Chiu are absorbable PDO flexible sutures that have molded tiny “barbs” or hooks (almost invisible to the human eye) that grabs onto the under surface of the skin to produce an instant lift in areas with laxity or to address loose skin or heavy skin on the lower face. Dr. Chiu delivers the treatment during a quick, zero-downtime 30 minute procedure.

Benefits of a Thread Lift

While you might be wondering about choosing a thread lift, it’s helpful to remember that injectable thread lifts provide an immediate improvement and a regenerative effect for progressive and natural results. Some of the typical outcomes include:

• Instant lifted results
• A boost to the body’s natural collagen production
• Typically no downtime

Patients who can’t or are not ready to have a surgical facelift due to medical conditions may consider a thread lift as a safer alternative. Thread lifts are low risk, mainly due to how non-invasive they are. There is virtually no risk of bruising, bleeding, scarring, or other complications after having a thread lift.

While no procedure can halt the natural aging process, facelift surgery will usually produce longer-lasting results than a thread lift, typically up to a decade. In contrast, a thread lift will generally last about a year. However, because thread lift procedures are low-risk, patients can opt to have a fresh set of threads placed once the body absorbs the previous set.

What Are the Most Common Areas Treated With a Thread Face Lift?

Patients typically choose thread lifts for facial areas that sag or droop, looking lax over time. These areas include:

• Jowls and jawline
• Brow line and forehead
• Droopy or heavy cheeks
• Lax or crepey neck

Thread lifts can also present excellent results in other areas of the body, including the knees, buttocks, abdomen, and legs.

Who Is the Best Candidate for a Thread Face Lift?

Ideal candidates for a thread face lift are patients who are just starting to notice some collagen loss in the mid- or lower third of their faces, would like to boost their skin’s structure, and are:

• In their late 30s to early 50s
• Have moderately loose skin

Already have volume and do not want to lift with fillers

What Are the Risks and Side Effects From a Thread Face Lift?

A thread lift procedure is generally low-risk, but patients may experience side effects such as:

• Bruising
• Swelling
• Bleeding
• Slight discomfort at the injection site

There’s also a 15 to 20% chance of complications such as dimpling, but these are generally minor and easily correctable.

Ready to Schedule a Consultation?

To find out more about your thread face lift, call us at (310) 939-9800 or contact us online to schedule a personalized consultation with Dr. Annie Chiu.