AHMEDABAD: Defying age just got easier, at least on the face of it. For people keen on looking younger but scared to come under the scalpel, there is hope in thread lift.
The technique, which is growing in popularity owing to its non-invasive nature, is simple — doctors use special barbed threads made of self absorbent material polypropylene to lift sagging facial and neck skin and fasten them to the scalp — and takes only about an hour to perform. To top that, it is a daycare process, which means that patients can go about their work immediately after the effects of the local anaesthesia wear off.
“An ageing face can be rejuvenated without a single cut,” said Dr Anil Chadha, a consultant aesthetic surgeon with Rajasthan hospitals, Ahmedabad. “The barbed threads get absorbed in two years’ time and that is when the effect of the facelift starts wearing off. This is good for middle-aged people who would like to look young without undergoing a major surgery.”
Dr Daniel Cassuto, an aesthetic plastic surgeon from Milan, Italy, who specialises in peri-orbital rejuvenation, said, “In a cosmetic facelift, we cut and separate tissues from lower positions to upper positions. This displaces and damages other tissues. In thread lift, we lift tissues with microscopic threads without upsetting other tissues. The new tissues also develop in the elevated position.”
Dr Cassuto spoke to DNA on the sidelines of ‘Aesthetica’, a conference organised by Apollo hospitals for cosmetic surgeons across the country in Ahmedabad.
The cost of a thread lift is also relatively lower. Depending on the quality, each barbed thread costs anything between Rs4,000 and Rs20,000. “One facial thread lift will
require at least six threads. This makes the technique affordable for even middle-class working women,” says Dr Ashit Shah, another Ahmedabad-based cosmetic surgeon.
“This technology has been around for a couple of years, but is catching up only now.”
Middle-aged men, too, have taken a fancy to this procedure. Dr Bijal Parikh, a cosmetic surgeon in Ahmedabad, claims to have operated on three men. “I performed a thread lift surgery on a 51-year-old non-resident-Gujarati’s face and neck last month. We get many enquiries from men. This will increase as awareness spreads.”
Though Dr Parikh says thread lift is a good solution, he adds that it can only be used for moderate cases and may not be much value for money since the effect would wear off within two years.
“A thread lift surgery does not look superficial like a cosmetic facelift, but the downside is that it cannot be used for extreme cases. On the other hand, there are no side effects. There is only a slight itching and swelling and the patient can go back to work the very same day,” he said.
