When your face heads south, then take the thread-lift

When her face started heading south without her, Brigit Grant took action…

Something wonderful has happened to my face. Only three weeks ago I was jowly – not in a Marlon Brando as Don Corleone kind of way – but sufficiently saggy around the jaw line to not look good leaning over a balcony or lying down. Now I know what you are thinking and I have heard all the arguments in favour of gracefully embracing the ageing process.

But while I congratulate L’Oreal on choosing silver surfers Dame Helen Mirren and Twiggy to represent their brand, when you are the oldest mother in the playground you don’t have the benefit of a make-up artist or airbrushing ahead of the school run and I needed help.

Fortunately I come from a family with good skin and my mother’s looks belie her years, but when I checked the mirror and saw two chins nestling beneath the existing one and my once proud cheek bones no longer looking so proud, I wasn’t happy. In no uncertain terms my face was heading south without me and needed rescuing.

Fortunately, writing about beauty treatments for years means I know the right people to call and Deborah Forsythe, founder of the International Institute of Aesthetic Medicine and D.F.C Aesthetics is top of that list. Deborah introduced me to wrinkle relaxing treatments some years ago when I started to look cross because of ever-deepening frown lines Subscribing to the less is more philosophy Deb has just held the lines at bay and never altered my face or given me a ‘Renee Zellwegger’ punim. “What can I do about my double chin and falling cheeks?” I wailed down the phone and that’s when Deb suggested a thread-lift.

Otherwise known as the The Perfect-V-Line lift or the ‘puppet lift’ as the Daily Mail described it, this delicate procedure uses ‘threads’ and is a less scary alternative to an under-the-knife face lift. As it is significantly less minvasive, than any face lift, there are less risks and minimal downtime so it is possible to do in a lunchtime and then go back to work or be on time for the school pick-up. And that’s what I did. I was scared on the day of the scheduled lift, but Deb was very reassuring throughout.

Suggesting I take homeopathic arnica (to reduce any bruising) and talking me through each stage, she applied local anaesthetic to both sides of my upper face and once that took effect began the process of inserting fine surgical sutures – four on each side – from the hairline into my cheeks.

The biologically compatible and absorbable threads which are used in heart surgery are placed in specific directions to have a powerful lifting effect, they also activate and improve the formation of collagen in the skin and the improvement of the skin’s tone and elasticity. “The Perfect V-Line threads have multi-directional notches or cogs , which helps the skin to become tauter as it grips the threads in the skin’s dermis give the face lift.“Like candy floss wrapped to a stick,” explained Deborah.

The right side of my face was dealt with relatively painlessly, though I could hear the threads popping as they passed through, but it’s best to avoid thinking about the visuals.

The left side was a bigger ouch, but no more than stubbing a toe and the last stage which consisted of using smaller threads under my chin to create a basket was just eye-watering, but only 4/10 on the pain scale.

Now I am pretty impatient when it comes to seeing results, so it was amazing to be handed a mirror seconds after the procedure and see a marked difference. I looked less hang-dog and the cheek bones were back.

Friends didn’t comment on the effects, but that is the point as a thread lift is not meant to make you look different – just better. And more like your old self.

My husband made jokes about Pinocchio, but as the days have passed there is less and less double chin and it’s a struggle to pinch my cheeks. According to Deborah my skin will get tighter over the next few months and in 2-6 months the threads will just be absorbed into my body.

Often the technical details of aesthetic medicine are more frightening on paper than practice and this is true of the thread-lift which I will certainly do again.

• Call 01564 777 839 or email enquiries@deborah forsytheclinic.co.uk.

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