Researchers, who have consulting and other ties to Sinclair Pharma, report in a paper published July 2018 in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology that the PLLA/PLGA suture and cone composition stimulates fibroblasts resulting in type 1 collagen synthesis.
Pierone says he hasn’t often used PLLA threads, he thinks those newer technologies work as well as newer PDO threads to lift skin and stimulate collagen production.Ī popular PLLA thread lift option in the U.S., Silhouette InstaLift (Sinclair Pharma) threads are 82% PLLA and 18% glycolide polymer (PLGA) with bidirectional cones. “When you insert the Mint threads in the upper face and thread them down to the lower face and pull back, you get 1 cm or 2 cm of upward, backward traction,” he says. Pierone, who has presented on Mint threads in Korea and was reimbursed for his lecture and travel. Mint threads cost about $35 a thread, compared to other brands that charge up to $150 a thread, according to Dr. Pierone says Mint’s thread technology has uni-directional barbs and offers quality and affordability. After trying several brands, he uses the Mint brand (HansBiomed). Pierone recommends barbed PDO threads for most lifting procedures. tend to be made of PDO, which is the polymer that absorbable sutures are made of, or poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA), the same polymer in Sculptra (Galderma).ĭr.
He trademarked such a procedure: The Symmetry Lyft combines fillers and threads for full minimally invasive facial rejuvenation. The goal is to obtain upper and backward traction beyond what he can achieve with fillers alone. The threads would be inserted in the upper face superior to zygoma with the thread directed toward the oral commissure and the middle jowl area. He might use fillers for a liquid facelift combined with PDO threads. Pierone says, is the patient who comes in with prominent nasolabial folds, a depleted lower face and jowls. “It’s a middle ground between fillers and surgery and represents a dramatic advancement in nonsurgical facial rejuvenation.”įor example, thread lifting with polydioxanone (PDO) sutures can build on liquid facelift techniques. “Thread lifting is something you can do both for people that need filler and for people that don’t need filler and don’t want surgery, but just need some slimming, along with upward and backward traction,” he says. Pierone says thread lifting has become an effective and safe minimally invasive option for lifting the skin. Thanks to advances in thread technology, Dr. Pierone, an internist physician who has focused on cosmetic treatments for about 13 years. At a certain point their cheeks enter the room before they do,” says Dr. People start looking ridiculous if you keep putting filler in the zygomatic area to get the jowls lifted up. “At a certain point, you can’t go any further. But he says there is a law of diminishing return with using dermal fillers alone to lift the skin. Gerald Pierone, Jr., M.D., has performed more than 30,000 dermal filler procedures, including liquid face lifting.