Thread lifts are often performed in an outpatient medical surgery center or hospital. Because the procedure is minimally invasive, general anesthesia is not required, so you can remain awake, but sedated with local anesthesia. One benefit is that the plastic surgeon can give you a mirror as the thread is pulled back, allowing you to give feedback.
You may be instructed not to eat or drink after midnight before the thread lift. You may be prescribed an antibiotic to take beforehand, and instructed to cease taking certain other medications.
During the procedure your doctor will make small incisions in key locations and insert a threaded needle to lift the subcutaneous tissue and suspend the lift with the thread. The barbs on these threads will lock in place upon insertion to lift very specific areas.
Variations of the technique exist as well. In general, the “closed” technique involves molding the soft tissue over the suture in multiple location points until it catches in the appropriate location to provide the best result. During an “open” technique, the surgeon will use instruments under the skin to create a raw surface so that when the thread sutures are pulled up, the lift is more likely to remain in the appropriate position. Other surgeons may employ a combination technique that uses sutures at multiple tissue levels to catch all the barbs and create a suspension that cannot be accomplished with a non-barb suture. Depending on your needs, the number of threads used in the procedure can range from two to 20.