No. The disadvantages far outweigh the advantages in Dr Stradwick’s opinion. The appeal of threads is understandable. They are relatively cheap, can be inserted in an office setting and have minimal downtime. However there are significant downsides. Dr Stradwick has had to operate on patients with threads in the face and has seen the problems they cause. Inserted too deep and they can damage the facial nerve. Inserted too close to the skin and they can create bizarre bands during facial expression. More of an issue is that thread lifts do not give a long lasting result. It is just not possible to suspend the facial tissues with a thread permanently. Eventually the threads pull through the tissues and the effect is lost completely. They do not represent value for money in the longer term.

It is wrong to claim any type of lift is permanent without qualifying that statement. This includes facelift, browlift or breast lift. Dr Stradwick tells his patients that although the clock can be reset with lifting procedures it still ticks. The ageing process does not stop for anyone. A correctly performed facelift in which the underlying structures are surgical repositioned and the volume restored will still age normally. A natural appearing facelift will typically make a person look 10 years younger than their chronological age and this “ten year effect” is permanent. So in that sense the effects of a well performed facelift are permanent.

This contrasts totally with a threadlift in which the effect is totally lost when the threads give way. Like anything in life to get a long lasting result requires an investment. In facelifts the price is an operation requiring a period of recovery, a scar, and a financial impost that over the long term represents good value for money.

That depends on the extent of the facelift and the type of work performed. In general most of Dr Stradwick’s patients are back to work within 2 weeks. Although the swelling can take several months to fully subside, the majority of swelling has settled by 2 weeks. The scars although long are well hidden with most hairstyles. All sutures are removed at the end of the first week and by the end of the second week; the scars can be largely concealed with make-up. The scars do take at least a year to look their best but by 3 months they should be difficult to see at a glance. Occasionally scars can require additional treatment – click here for more information on scars.

A facelift is not typically a painful operation. In fact often the face is numb afterwards because of the local anaesthetic that is used during the procedure and also because the small nerve fibres that supply the skin over the face take some time to recover.

To reposition the muscle it is critically important to see the position of the facial nerve. This nerve supplies all the muscles of the face that are involved in facial expression. It is located just underneath the muscle layer and it is important to know where the nerve is at all times during a facelift. For this reason good access to the muscle layer is required which necessitates a long scar. Dr Stradwick carefully conceals the scars along the hairline and in the natural undulations of the ear. Management of the earlobe incision and reattachment of the earlobe at the end of the procedure is critical. Poor execution of this leads to an obvious deformity and detracts from the final result. Dr Stradwick has a special interest in ear and ear lobe reconstruction after skin cancer excision and finds this part of the procedure satisfying. He also performs many scar revisions and has an interest in minimal scars. For this reason where appropriate he uses a very fine knife usually used by eye surgeons to give the best possible scar.