{"id":17907,"date":"2020-12-28T13:01:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T21:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https://www.realself.com\/news\/?p=17907"},"modified":"2023-10-11T15:09:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T22:09:19","slug":"benefits-of-thread-lifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https://www.realself.com\/news\/benefits-of-thread-lifts","title":{"rendered":"Experts Are Split Over the Benefits of Thread Lifts. Top Doctors Explain Why."},"content":{"rendered":"

Thread lifts<\/a> are among the most talked-about procedures in beauty. Doctors debate their merits at aesthetics meetings—proponents celebrating their nonsurgical lifting powers and skeptics bemoaning their inconsistency. Curious patients research the ins and outs, Googling to the point of perplexion if not exhaustion. Instagram heightens the hype, with wild shots of colorful cannulae splayed across a brow and time-lapse videos of threads darting into a jawline. <\/p>

Underlying much of the confusion surrounding thread lifts—or suture suspension lifts, as they’re sometimes called—is a fraught history: the permanent suture materials<\/a> used in the early aughts were known to snap beneath the skin, cause obvious dimpling, and even protrude, garishly, from the face. Any lifting effect they gave was notoriously fleeting. And because the procedure was often touted as an alternative to facelift<\/a> surgery, it was all but destined to disappoint. <\/p>

While modern threads are absorbable, skin-friendly, and safer than old-school versions, the research behind them is still somewhat lacking. “It’s baffling to me that there aren’t more studies,” says board-certified Philadelphia dermatologist Dr. Nazanin Saedi<\/a>, who performs thread lifts routinely. The dearth of data is a red flag for some practitioners. “The scientific literature on threads goes back only a few years and a few hundred patients,” says Dr. Evan Rieder, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City—a fact that currently makes him hesitant to adopt the technology in practice, since, as he notes, the true scope of procedural risks and rewards oftentimes takes much longer to come to light. <\/p>

Ahead, doctors on both sides of the thread divide weigh in on how threads are being used today to elevate and smooth the skin, why expectation management is everything, and what you should know about the risks and downtime before signing up for a suture suspension lift.<\/p>

Interested in thread lift?<\/small><\/div>Find Doctors Near You<\/a><\/div>

What is a thread lift?<\/h2>

“I describe it as a minimally invasive lifting and volumizing procedure,” says Dr. Saedi. Several suture suspension lift systems exist—and each has its own unique design and mode of delivery. But generally speaking, “a thread lift entails using some form of absorbable suture material that is inserted with a cannula [or needle] underneath the skin’s surface, to offer tissue support and\/or a biostimulatory effect, to create more collagen,” explains Dr. Jessica Weiser<\/a>, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City. Once anchored in the dermis, threads can hoist and reposition the tissues, smoothing the skin and accentuating edges and angles like cheekbones and jawlines. As the sutures dissolve over the course of six months, they trigger an uptick in collagen growth, to thicken the skin slightly. <\/p>

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A post shared by Dr. Jessie Cheung (@drjessiecheung)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>