Is a threadlift worth it if I am in my 50s?

Age can act a guide for treatment; we lose approximately 1% collagen/volume a year after our 30s, so considerations for treatment generally commence then.

Aging is largely characterised by bony and deep fat volume loss, with resultant drooping of overlying surface fat and skin. Skin loses its turgor and begins to become thin and wrinkly.

Threadlifting can help patients with the relocation of drooping surface fat and skin, but this has limitations - patients with excessively heavy amounts of superficial fat will see little difference due to the thread's inadequate action.

We mostly advise volume replacement with fillers or collagen stimulators (hyaluronic acid, ellanse, radiesse etc) first to provide a restoration of your facial structure from the years of bony volume loss first. This provides a more natural restoration.

Threads can be done subsequently to reposition the drooping fat and sculpt the face.

That being said, a proper examination is advised prior to the decision on treatment; patients with excessive skin or heavy tissue might indeed better benefit from surgical intervention. Even so, surgical intervention or further minimally invasive treatment will need repeating over the subsequent years as the face continues to age dynamically.

Cheers!

Shane

That is a common scenario I face in my practice as my interests are on Non-Surgical Facial Anti-aging Therapy mainly.

Firstly, it depends on how well you have maintained your facial tissues over the years. I have had patients who are 50 plus, and they look like they are in their late 30s, early 40s due to good use of sunblock. Also, yearly maintenance treatments helps (threadlifts, ellanse, fillers, thermage, ultherapy). These patients are definitely suitable to go ahead with a yearly threadlift.

There are also some patients in the 50s who are blessed with good genes. They only suffer from a lack of volume in the common fat pads that lose volume due to aging (sub-orbicularis oculi fat pad, deep medial cheek fat, temporal fat pad) and nasolabial folds (smile lines).

These patients have very little jowls (jowling is the descent and hypertrophy of the superior and inferior jowl fats adjacent to the corner of the mouth, which creates a bulldog like appearance and requires a physical lifting with threads). These second group of patients just require collagen-stimulating fillers like Ellanse or Radiesse.

The converse is true: if nothing has been done before to reverse your facial age by the age of 50, the most logical and appropriate solution would be to go for a surgical facelift, and then some fat grafts or ellanse to replace the volume loss thereafter. (Surgical facelifts do not address the loss of volume related to aging).

Having said that, even patients who had not done anything previously to address their facial aging issues still frequently DO NOT WANT any surgery. Main reasons: fear of GA complications (these patients usually have diabetic or cardiovascular issues), surgical complications (irreversible), prolonged downtime, the "overtightened look" (seen in Hollywood).

So I tailor their expectation downwards, and inform them clearly that non-surgical techniques will not give them a surgical facelift result. I do not start until they fully understand that they may need to spend much more than a surgical facelift for lesser results. However, the main benefit is that it is non-surgical and can be repeated yearly.

Then, for them, I use my ART (Anatomical Restoration Therapy) FACELIFT technique. Fat pads volume loss are volumised with high G’ fillers like Teosyal Ultradeep, Radiesse or Ellanse (high G’ gives a lift together with volume replacement due to the high lifting power).

Fat descent is addressed via threadlifts like Mint Lift or Silhouette Soft (physical lifting of heavy fat pads and subsequent collagen stimulation). Dermal issues are addressed via a combination of fractional resurfacing lasers, Rejuran and Teosyal Redensity I.

Hope that answers your question!

Dr Shane and Israr have both given comprehensive answers to your question. I personally address my patients' skin quality and volume loss/excess first before commencing threadlift; for the best results possible.

Simply put, a combination of non/ minimally invasive aesthetic procedures including threadlift, can achieve the result of you looking years younger. However, threadlift is not able to remove excess skin laxity with aging, which requires surgical intervention.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Dr David Deng

This question requires a very careful consideration of your needs. The various doctors have kindly listed out the various options available.

In my opinion though, at age 50+, it's likely you need some volumising with fillers and combining that with HIFU/Ulthera/Thermage for skin tightening can get rather good results too.

Threadlift alone without consideration of volume issues may give you slightly disappointing results so I would suggest a detailed consultation with your doctor for this treatment.