Aptos Visage Excellence Facial Thread Lift

I'm a 30 Y.O female in Sydney, Australia and have been researching three lifts for the last 4 months.

My motivation for this is the shadow/smile line apparent above my mouth.
I did seek an alternative route to address this and in June where I was advised to have Sculptra injected instead to address my nasolabal folds and Dysport in my crows feet, along with what I initially booked in for - Dysport on the Chin, Glabellar Lines and Forehead at the Contour Clinics in Five Dock.

I asked to be microdosed as I'm not used to having large amounts injected, and strive after a more natural and soft look.

I noticed straight away after the Dysport injection that something was wrong, I felt sick. I flagged with with the Doctor, Clinic Staff and even followed up when I got home. This feeling persisted for a month, but in the time between my procedure and my follow up appointment I did some research and found it was common phenomena when too much dysport is injected. At my follow up the doctor confirmed this could be the case.
Unfortunately the muscles at my temples which hold my cheek pads up became too relaxed and made my nasolabial folds more pronounced.

I waited three months before seeking alternate treatments like advised and after much research on the types of threads and scoping out many doctors I finally felt comfortable with one whom I saw for a consult today and paid a deposit for the procedure slated to be performed today!

I'll keep you posted with my reasoning on why I chose Aptos, the provider and photos.

So as promised here is some context why I chose Aptos threads instead of MINT, Silhouette or any of the others available in Australia.

What types of thread are there?
There are multiple categories for threads - absorbable and non-absorbable, material type and thread type. I'm only going to delve into the absorbable threads as these were the ones I had put in due to the fact they are broken down by your body and seemingly less risk averse.

When choosing threads motivation must be considered, whether volume and/or lift. The thread type is dependant on this as mono threads (no barbs or cones) are suitable for volumisation, but barbed/cone threads hook onto the tissue to provide lift using the insertion point as anchor of sorts.

Once motivation is decided then you need to consider thread material - there are three main options available in Australia PDO (polydioxanone) , PLA (polylactic acid) and PCA (polycaprolactone).

PLA is the same material Sculptra is made from, whilst PDO (AKA Korean threads) is the most common type thread used - both stimulate Type 1 collagen which is a fibrous collagen.
PCA is newer compared to these and it stimulates both Type 1 & 3 collagen. Type 3 collagen helps with the condition of the skin, including skin elasticity.

I went with Aptos threads due to it being made up of both Type 1 & 3 collagen.
Out of the providers I looked at these were what they offered at the time of the review:
Contour Clinic (NSW) - PDO, PLA
Cosmos Clinics (NSW) - PDO, PLA
Geniale (NSW) - PDO, PLA
Ignite Medispa (NSW) - PDO, PLA
La Luna (NSW) - PDO
MD Cosmedical (NSW) - PDO, PCA, PLA
Skin Club (VIC) - PCA, PDO, PLA
Skin Essentials (NSW) - PDO, PLA
Sydney West Beauty (NSW) - PCA, PDO, PLA
The Beauty & Cosmetic Clinic (NSW) - PCA, PDO, PLA
The Manse (NSW) - PDO, PLA

I was looking to improve the condition and elasticity as 'bounce back' was one of my concerns, as a chronic side sleeper (and known for my exaggerated and unusual facial expressions) I was starting to get nasolabial folds that were more prominent on the side I sleep on (left hand side).
The options are very limited for this - filler, thread lift or face lift. At age 30 the latter is extreme and the former doesn't address the facial sagging that was occurring due to the side sleeping (plus the exacerbation of it from injecting a large amount dysport into my crows feet thus affecting the muscles that hold up your face!).

Hence I chose thread lift, a procedure my friends and own mother had considered but due to lack of easily-digestible information on the procedure and community reviews still had questions regarding efficacy.

More on this soon! And photos.

As promised before pics taken on the 14/09/2022 (5 days post procedure).