Plastic surgeons generally do not favor threads (thread lifts) primarily because, simply put, they do not work as advertised. This significant discrepancy between promised outcomes and actual results is the core reason for their widespread opposition within the professional community.
The Efficacy Gap: Unmet Expectations
For a vast majority of board-certified facial plastic surgeons, the fundamental issue with thread lifts lies in their perceived ineffectiveness. Patients often seek thread lifts hoping for a significant and lasting lift to address sagging skin, similar to surgical facelifts, but threads typically fall short of these expectations.
- Limited Lift: The initial lift achieved with threads is often minimal compared to traditional surgical methods.
- Temporary Results: Any lift or tightening observed tends to be short-lived, with effects often dissipating within a few months to a year, far less than what is implied by some marketing.
- Insufficient Support: Threads are designed to pull and hold tissue, but they often lack the structural integrity to provide durable support against gravity and facial movements over time.
A Professional Stance
The professional opinion among experienced plastic surgeons is largely unified against the routine use of threads for significant facial rejuvenation. This opposition stems from a commitment to delivering predictable, long-lasting, and impactful results to their patients.
- Patient Satisfaction: When procedures do not meet patient expectations or offer durable improvements, it can lead to dissatisfaction and erode trust. Surgeons prioritize procedures with a strong track record of success.
- Ethical Considerations: Offering treatments that are widely considered ineffective for their advertised purpose goes against the ethical principles of many medical professionals who aim to provide the best possible care and genuine solutions.
- Comparison to Gold Standards: Plastic surgeons are highly skilled in surgical techniques that offer proven and profound rejuvenation. Threads are often seen as a compromise that does not deliver comparable benefits.
In essence, the professional preference leans towards established, more invasive, but ultimately more effective and durable surgical interventions for facial lifting, rather than procedures like thread lifts that are perceived as underperforming their marketing claims.
