Thread Lift Alias Thread: What are the benefits and risks?

Medical Video: Contraindications, Limitations and Side Effects of Thread Lift

Thread lift, aka planting threads, is one of the many favorite cosmetic procedure trends for many thanks to the exposure of many media touting the results.

Beauty trends have changed a lot and now surgeons no longer recommend thread lift procedures as the main choice for their patients. What is the reason?

What is a thread planting procedure?

Thread lift or thread planting is a quick cosmetic procedure in which the doctor will insert a thin needle to insert a serrated polypropylene sewing thread through a layer of fat under the skin. The thread is then pulled tight to lift loose skin and tissue on the face and neck.

Pros and cons of planting thread procedures

Unlike a face lift that involves tissue removal, this procedure only depends on the effect of tightening the skin from the pull of the thread to make the face look younger.

If you're considering plastic surgery, a thread lift sounds like a tempting alternative: it's cheaper than a face lift, painless, and relatively fast.

However, the thread lift received a number of scathing criticisms from many conventional plastic surgeons. Most of them question the validity of this thread planting procedure, because the thread lift has not been studied medically and through peer-reviewed regarding its effectiveness and safety.

Reporting from NYTimes.com, Dr. Thomas Romo III, director of the department of plastic surgery and facial reconstruction at Lenox Hill Hospital Manhattan, argues that a medical procedure must go through laboratory research and clinical studies for at least 10 years before ensuring that the procedure can be marketed to the public.

Furthermore, Father and a number of other surgeons questioned the licenses of a number of practitioners of thread lift - not only plastic surgeons, but also opthalmologists, obstetricians, and general practitioners - who had little training in facial anatomy or surgical procedures, outside of training brief offered by a number of informal courses on specialized operations.

A doctor who does not have extensive knowledge and experience, according to Dr. Rober Singer, a plastic surgeon in La Jolla, can unconsciously insert a needle and operating thread into important facial structures, such as the facial muscle nerves, and cause side effects such as relaxation and infection.

The negative reaction from plastic surgeons seems to depart from many problems that arise from complaints of patients and other fellow doctors, regarding unsatisfactory results.

Side effects reported by patients planting threads

Most problems with cropping are reported to originate from threads used in procedures that - according to experts - have been used internally for years in surgery and are truly compatible with body tissues so that it cannot be rejected by the body's system.

Unfortunately, many patient complaints actually break the claim. Not a few patients have to carry out the repair procedure for the second or third time because the problems experienced due to the thread have been inserted.

The most common issue is that threads appear on the face and are clearly visible, headaches arise after undergoing the procedure, or a tingling sensation under the skin. Many patients who complain about the results of their lift threads make their facial skin more loose or wrinkled.

This complaint was supported by the results of an informal survey conducted by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in 2005. 198 of the 900 doctors said they had tried this procedure, and 60 percent said complications arose. In some cases, the thread breaks or arises on the surface of the skin (NYTimes, 2005).

Long-term effects of planting yarn

A study chaired by Rima F. Abraham, MD was published in Journal of Facial Plastic Surgery in 2009, examined the long-term effectiveness of the thread lift for facial rejuvenation.

Quoted from NCBI.com, Abraham and the team collected 33 thread lift participants: 23 patients had undergone other cosmetic procedures next to the thread lift, while the others had only seen the procedure as running a thread lift. The remaining 10 people acted as comparison control groups.

The results of each participant were then examined by a plastic surgeon panel and assessed the facial structure "before and after" in the session blind assessment, using a scale of 0-3. A month after the procedure, the panel approved an increase in appearance for all participants.

However, during the follow-up examination 21 months later, the group of participants in the lift elevator had the lowest aesthetic score, with a value of 0.2 - 0.5. For the "thread lift and other cosmetic procedures" group, their performance improvement scores reached 0.5 - 1.4, while the control group had a score of 1.5 - 2.3.

The yarn planting complications that appear in this study include threads that appear on the face surface, and skin that protrudes inward. The researchers agreed that the thread lift procedure contained a high risk of complications, while deep scar tissue injury might make it difficult for doctors to remove the thread. In fact, 20% of participants from the study were required to remove their threads.

So, is planting thread effective?

In conclusion, thread planting is not an effective procedure to provide long-term results, because this procedure does not change the shift in facial volume that occurs due to the aging process. The reason is, the elevator thread only "hides" the excess of loosened skin by tightening it. In fact, the network is still attached to the face. The results shown one month after the elevator thread are most likely due to swelling and inflammation, according to Abraham.

Maybe there are still many beauty clinics around you that offer thread lift services, but this is only limited to a number of dermatologists compared to conventional plastic surgeons who generally give a poor assessment of this procedure.