Midface Thread Lift vs Surgery

Threads or surgery

What is the difference between a midface thread lift and a surgical midface lift?

The direct answer

A thread lift places absorbable threads beneath the skin and uses them to hold tissue in a new direction; nothing is opened, and at Rewind Plastic Surgery the threads are anchored to the fascial plane. A surgical midface lift at Rewind in Apgujeong, Seoul makes a small incision below the eye, raises the midface with its fascial layer, fixes the descended fat to the periosteum and holds the lift with an absorbable Endotine device. Threads change the direction of soft tissue; the operation also repositions fat and fixes it to bone. Rewind records about three to six months for PDO threads, about six to twelve months for PCL threads, and more than five years for the midface lift, with individual variation in each.

Sources: Rewind's Korean pages for the apple-cheek midface lift and for its PDO and PCL thread programmes. Threads belong to the clinic's non-surgical track and appear on this page only as the alternative being compared.

Which lasts longer for flattened cheeks? On the clinic's own figures, the operation does, by a wide margin. Duration is only one of several differences, though, and for some faces a short-lived, incision-free lift is the reasonable choice. The sections below set the options side by side and leave the decision to the examination.

A note on the word "flattened": a cheek can look flat because tissue has slid down, or because volume has been lost. Both options on this page lift tissue. Neither adds volume, and where lost volume is the main cause, the examination says so.

Under the skin

How each midface option lifts, step by step

Both options begin with the same examination. After that the two methods part company, and so do their timescales.

01Examine

Descent, fat and skin are assessed first

Dr. Choi examines how far the tissue between the lower lid and the nasolabial fold has fallen, whether the under-eye fat bulges, and how elastic the skin is. Those three findings point toward one option.

02Threads

In the thread option, nothing is opened

Absorbable PDO or PCL threads are placed beneath the skin and, in Rewind's programme, anchored to the fascial plane. The clinic states that collagen forms as the threads are absorbed.

03Surgery

In the surgical option, a small incision, then the lift

A one-to-one design is followed by a small incision below the eye, and the midface is drawn upward together with its fascial layer.

04Fixation

Fat fixed to bone, Endotine placed

The operation fixes the descended fat to the periosteum, and Endotine holds the lift with five prongs on a bone-seated base.

05Absorb

Two absorbable materials, two timescales

Both materials are absorbed by the body. The recorded effect of the threads runs for months; Endotine is absorbed over about nine months, and the result of the operation is recorded at more than five years.

Pricing

Midface thread lift and surgical midface lift prices at Rewind

Both appear on Rewind's fee sheet. The operation is one listed figure; standard threads are priced per thread, so the number of threads sets that total.

Listed figures before VAT. Read each price against its recorded duration: a figure that covers months and a figure that covers years are different purchases.

Recovery

Recovery after threads compared with recovery after midface surgery

The two recoveries differ more than the two procedures. Rewind's thread instructions and its midface lift page set out separate rules, and the surgical timeline is confirmed by the surgeon after the operation.

Thread lifting can cause bruising, swelling, asymmetry, dimpling and threads that can be felt or seen under thin skin. Surgery can bring scarring, bleeding, infection, altered sensation, uneven sides, extended swelling or a change in how the lower lid sits. Rewind states that daily life is usually possible after its thread programmes without a set recovery period.

Questions

Threads or midface surgery: what patients ask