Like all medical procedures, there is a possibility of complications. However, with the right practitioner, pre-care and post-care, the risks of any complications arising during thread lift recovery are reduced. Whilst the risk of complications can be reduced, the risk cannot be completed eliminated.
Niu et al4 described the following complications after PDO thread procedures: edema (35%), skin dimpling (10%), paresthesia (6%), thread visibility/palpability (4%), infection (2%), and thread extrusion (2%).
One of the risks associated with the use of PDO threads is the possibility of thread breakage. When a PDO thread snaps, patients can feel a sudden sharp pain, which is often accompanied by a popping or cracking sound. This occurs due to the sudden release of tension in the thread.
To ensure the best results, there are several things you must avoid after a PDO thread lift. These include sleeping on your stomach or side, wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, making extreme facial expressions, and receiving facials and facial massages.
Rejection – The thread is a foreign body and might even be rejected by certain people, or it may make start to protrude out of the skin. Rippling – The threads may bunch up and cause the surface of the skin to appear rippled. Numbness – The threads may press on nerves which can lead to numbness.
For most patients, this treatment results in an immediate improvement because the placement of the threads offers a lift right away. Your results will fully develop, or settle, over the next month as the body begins to ramp up collagen production that will offer longer-term support.
A PDO thread lift can be expected to offer instant results that will actually improve over the span of two to three months after your treatment. Even as the threads fade, your results will keep going strong.
Fortunately, because the threads placed under the skin during a thread lift are so small, the patient will not feel any of this happening. Most people cannot feel their sutures at all once the skin has healed around them.
The nature of PDO is such that it easily breaks if exposed to moisture in the air, and cannot restore its strength. Improper or long term storage may lead to bi-directional cog threads to become broken after insertion, causing it to lose its fixing ability, thus may migrate after insertion.
Generally, thread lifting is a minimally-invasive procedure and facial nerves ramify into numerous branches and anastomosis exists between them; therefore, the incidence rate of nerve injuries and side effects are low, but not non-existent.
Good skin is essential as response to the treatment relies on the threads to tighten over the lifted area. Patients with thin skin may have more chances of sutures showing, rippling effect and bruising. Threads lifts are not suitable for patients with excessively saggy skin.
Another study published by the NIH indicates this therapy yields around a 90 percent success rate. And yet another study published by The Aesthetic Society states that immediately after treatment, patients see visible improvements.
Thread lift side effects
"There's always a risk of bruising and infection, but it's very low. It's lower than the risk you would have with surgery," Matarasso explains. Some patients may end up with skin irregularities, like bumps or asymmetry, if one side of the face ends up looking fuller than the other, he adds.
“Both with permanent and temporary threads, there have been reports of infection, foreign body reaction, suture extrusion (where the suture comes out of the skin), and puckering of the skin,” Sunder says. “There are also reports of prolonged pain or discomfort with permanent thread lifts.”
This may result in the formation of lumps or bumps and may cause the skin to look irregular. These symptoms can last anywhere from a few days to several weeks, depending on the severity of the lump.
Injury to the zygomatic and buccal branches of the facial nerve is possible during SMAS lifting, thread lifting, both at the time of application and extraction of threads, during Radiesse procedure, as well as botulinum neuroprotein injections [11, 14].
Kim Kardashian
The socialite admits that she often uses thread lifts and is one of the first to come forward and accept them. According to her, she considers them to be her secret for young and healthy skin. She uses them along with her traditional filler and injection treatments.
Many patients opt to have regularly scheduled PDO thread lifts once or twice a year. Your results may last longer depending on the condition of your skin, your age, and how well your body responds to polydioxanone threads; younger patients may find that results last for a little over a year.
The jowls are certainly one of the most common areas treated with thread lifting, though they are not the only one. Other features that can be almost instantly transformed with thread lifting include: Brows. Around the eyes.
Patients typically need between one and four treatments for the best results, though the skin is visibly improved after the first treatment. Many patients chose to prolong the effects of PDO threading for several years with annual maintenance treatments.
PDO thread lifts are a minimally invasive and effective treatment for your skin problems. They aren't normally felt or seen underneath the skin. However, in some rare cases of people with thin skin, they can feel them when they press on these areas.