Thread lift in Turkey

Two mechanisms are claimed, and it is worth separating what is well established from what is not.

The mechanical lift. Barbed or cone-studded absorbable sutures are passed under the skin along a planned vector, usually from a point in the temple or in front of the ear down into the cheek or along the jawline. When the thread is pulled, the barbs engage the tissue and hold it slightly higher. This is real and immediate, and it is small: millimetres, not centimetres. It softens the transition at the jawline, lifts the outer cheek slightly, and reduces the appearance of a nasolabial fold a little.

How long the mechanical lift lasts. Until the thread dissolves and the tissue settles. Polydioxanone threads absorb over roughly six months, others over up to twelve. In practice patients report a visible effect for twelve to eighteen months, decreasing gradually rather than ending abruptly.

The collagen claim. As the thread dissolves it provokes a mild inflammatory response, and fibroblasts lay down collagen along its track. This is also real, and its clinical effect is modest and not well quantified. It is the basis for claims of two to three year results, and those claims describe a subtle change in skin quality rather than a persisting lift. Treat the lift and the collagen as two different things and judge the treatment on the lift.

Thread types you will hear named. Polydioxanone, or PDO, is the commonest and the shortest-lived. Poly-L-lactic acid and polycaprolactone threads dissolve more slowly and are said to give a longer effect. Barbed threads, cog threads and cone threads describe the anchoring mechanism. Mono threads have no barbs at all and provide no lift, only collagen stimulation, so if you are quoted mono threads you are not being quoted a lift. Ask which type, and why.

What no thread does. It does not remove skin, it does not tighten the SMAS, it does not treat volume loss, and it does not address a heavy neck. Those need surgery, filler or nothing.

What a good doctor tells you. The vector they plan to lift along, how much lift to expect in millimetres or with a photograph, how long it will last, and what the treatment will not change.

The most important section on this page, because it is where the marketing and reality separate.

What a facelift does. Through an incision around the ear and into the hairline, the surgeon lifts the skin, repositions or tightens the deep fibromuscular layer, removes redundant skin and redrapes it. It addresses jowls, the jawline, the mid-face and, in combination with a neck lift, the neck. It lasts around a decade and it changes the architecture of the face.

What a thread lift does. Pulls the skin up a few millimetres along a vector and holds it while the thread lasts. It does not remove skin and it does not touch the deep layer.

So the comparison is not cheap facelift versus expensive facelift. They treat different degrees of the same problem.

The "defers a facelift" claim. Clinics often say threads delay the need for surgery, or that starting early means you will need less surgery later. There is no good evidence for this. Skin laxity progresses with age and gravity regardless of what dissolvable sutures did two years earlier, and no study shows that thread patients need less extensive surgery later. Treat this as a sales argument.

The "preventative" claim. Similarly unsupported. Nothing about a thread alters the process causing facial ageing.

Does it make a later facelift harder? Generally no, and surgeons do report encountering fibrosis along old thread tracks, which can make dissection slightly less clean. It is not a reason to avoid threads, and it is a reason to tell your facelift surgeon what you have had.

The arithmetic worth doing. A thread lift repeated every eighteen months across ten years is six or seven treatments. Add them up at the price you are being quoted and compare that figure with a facelift at the same clinic. In most quotes the threads cost more over the decade and delivered a fraction of the change. That calculation is not a reason against having one, and it is a reason not to think of them as the affordable version of surgery.

Where threads genuinely win. When you do not want surgery, do not want a general anaesthetic, cannot take two weeks of recovery, or have laxity too early to justify an operation. Those are good reasons and they have nothing to do with price.

Ask the doctor to tell you plainly whether you are a threads patient or a surgery patient. A clinic that does both can answer honestly.

Patient selection explains almost all the satisfaction and almost all the complaints.

Good candidates. Late thirties to early fifties with early laxity: a softening jawline, a slight droop of the outer cheek, early jowling that is visible but not heavy. Good skin quality with reasonable elasticity and thickness. Not much excess skin. A realistic expectation of a subtle change. Someone who specifically wants to avoid surgery, or who has a reason not to have a general anaesthetic.

Also reasonable. A brow that has dropped slightly, where a few threads in the temple give a small lift. Someone maintaining the result of a previous facelift. Someone wanting a small improvement before an event, with enough time for the swelling to settle. Someone combining threads with filler for volume and botulinum toxin for lines, as part of a planned approach rather than an impulse.

Poor candidates, and this is the group that ends up unhappy. Heavy jowls or a sagging neck, where threads cannot lift the weight and the effect is invisible within weeks. Significant skin excess, which needs removing rather than repositioning. Thin, sun-damaged, inelastic skin, where barbs tear through and dimpling is more likely and more persistent. Very thin faces, where threads are palpable and sometimes visible. Volume loss mistaken for sagging, which needs filler or fat rather than a lift. Anyone over about sixty with established laxity. Anyone expecting a facelift result.

Medical contraindications. Active infection or inflammation in the area. Autoimmune connective tissue disease, in most doctors' view. Bleeding disorders or anticoagulation that cannot be paused. Known allergy to the thread material. Pregnancy and breastfeeding, as a precaution. Recent filler in the same area, which needs discussing for sequence. A tendency to keloid or hypertrophic scarring, which is a consideration at the entry points.

The tell of a good consultation. The doctor pulls your skin upward in front of a mirror and shows you how much lift is achievable, and if that is not enough they say so and discuss surgery. The tell of a poor one: threads offered to everyone, regardless of what is sagging and how much.

If your own assessment is that your jawline is heavy rather than slightly soft, take a surgical opinion before buying threads.

A short treatment with a longer settling period than the marketing suggests.

Before. Avoid alcohol, aspirin, ibuprofen and fish oil for a week if your doctor agrees, to reduce bruising. Come with a clean face and no make-up. Discuss any recent filler.

The treatment. Entry points are marked, usually in the temple, in front of the ear or in the hairline. Local anaesthetic is injected, which is the uncomfortable part. A needle or blunt cannula carrying the thread is passed under the skin along the planned vector. The thread is then pulled, the barbs engage, and the tissue lifts. The thread end is trimmed at the entry point and tucked beneath the skin. Repeated for each thread, typically four to twelve per side depending on the plan. Thirty to sixty minutes in total.

Immediately after. You can see a lift, exaggerated by swelling. You go home the same day. There is no dressing.

The first week. Swelling and bruising, mild to moderate, worst on days two and three. Tightness, which patients describe as a pulling sensation on smiling or chewing, and which is normal. Tenderness at the entry points. Discomfort when opening your mouth wide.

What to avoid for two to three weeks. Sleeping on your side or face down. Vigorous facial massage, facials and dental work requiring wide mouth opening. Strenuous exercise for a week or two. Saunas and steam rooms. Wide smiling and exaggerated expressions for the first few days if the doctor advises it. Dental treatment should be deferred if possible.

Common complications, most of which settle. Dimpling or puckering of the skin where a barb has caught too superficially, usually settling within two to six weeks and occasionally needing the thread released or massaged. Asymmetry, common in the first weeks from uneven swelling and sometimes persisting, correctable by adding a thread. Palpable threads, felt as a firm line under the skin, usually settling as the thread absorbs. Visible thread ends or a thread extruding through an entry point, which needs trimming or removing by the doctor. Prolonged tightness or a pulling sensation. Bruising, sometimes lasting two weeks.

Less common. Infection at an entry point, needing antibiotics and sometimes thread removal. Nodules along the thread track. Persistent pain. Nerve irritation causing numbness or, rarely, a weakness of facial movement, usually temporary. Salivary gland injury, rare. Granuloma formation, rare.

Rare and serious. Facial nerve injury, and damage to the parotid duct. Both are why a doctor who understands facial anatomy must place the threads.

When to call the clinic. Increasing pain after day three, spreading redness, fever, a visible thread end, or any weakness of facial movement.

The range in the cost section above is wide for a short treatment, and almost all of the variation is thread count, thread type and who performs it.

A treatment at an authorised Turkish clinic normally includes the doctor's consultation with your face assessed for the degree of laxity, skin quality and whether volume loss is the real problem, a demonstration in a mirror of how much lift is achievable, the vectors planned and marked, agreement on the number and type of threads, local anaesthesia, placement, aftercare instructions, photographs before and after, and a review appointment, remotely if you have travelled.

Not included: flights, travel insurance, hotel unless offered as a package, filler or botulinum toxin if added, a repeat treatment when the effect fades, and correction of dimpling or removal of a thread if that becomes necessary after you have gone home.

Why quotes differ. First, the number of threads. This is the main driver, and a quote should state the number, not just "a thread lift". Four threads and sixteen threads are different treatments at different prices.

Second, the type of thread. PDO is cheapest and shortest-lived; poly-L-lactic acid and polycaprolactone cost more and are said to last longer. Mono threads, with no barbs, are cheapest of all and provide no lift, so a suspiciously cheap quote may be for mono threads. Ask which, in writing.

Third, who performs it. This is where the real difference lies, and it is covered in the next section.

Fourth, the area. Cheeks, jawline, brow, neck or a combination.

Fifth, whether it is combined with filler or botulinum toxin, which is common and often sensible, and which should be itemised so you know what you are paying for.

Sixth, whether a review is included and what happens if you get dimpling after flying home. This matters more with travel than with a local clinic, and the answer should be explicit.

The honest value point. This is a treatment with a twelve to eighteen month life. If you intend to maintain it, work out the cost over five and ten years and compare it with a facelift at the same clinic before deciding this is the economical option. It is the convenient option, not the cheap one.

Ask for the quote to name the doctor, the thread type, the thread count, the areas, and what is covered if something needs correcting.

This section matters more for thread lifts than for any surgical procedure on this site, because the barrier to offering them is low and the anatomy is not.

What the treatment involves. Passing a needle or cannula several centimetres under the skin of the face, in a plane that lies near branches of the facial nerve, near the parotid gland and duct, and near facial vessels. A misplaced pass can injure a nerve or a duct. That is a medical procedure requiring knowledge of facial anatomy.

Who may perform it in Turkey. A doctor. Turkish law restricts medical procedures to physicians registered with the Turkish Medical Association, and an international patient's treatment should take place in a facility holding the Ministry of Health international health tourism authorisation. Beauty salons, hairdressers, non-medical aesthetic centres and travelling practitioners are not lawful settings for this, and being cheap does not make them lawful.

Why it is worth checking specifically. Thread lifts are marketed heavily by non-medical premises in many countries, Turkey included, precisely because the kit is inexpensive and the treatment looks simple. It is not simple, and the complications that matter, nerve injury and duct injury, are not ones a non-medical practitioner can recognise or manage.

What to ask for. The name of the doctor who will place the threads and their specialty, usually plastic surgery or dermatology. The clinic's international health tourism authorisation certificate with its number. Confirmation that the treatment happens in the licensed clinic, not in a hotel room or a salon.

Two more practical checks. That the threads are a CE-marked product from a named manufacturer, and that the clinic will tell you which one. And that someone competent will see you if there is a problem, since you are flying home within days.

A note on sequencing with other treatments. If you are having filler in the same areas, the doctor should plan the order and the interval. Threads passed through a recently filled area can displace the filler, and filler placed into a fresh thread track can migrate. This is a reason to have both planned by the same doctor in one visit.

And a note on the label. Any clinic advertising this as a non-surgical facelift is telling you how it markets rather than what it does. That does not make the clinic bad, and it means you should ask the specific questions on this page rather than trusting the phrase.

This is the shortest trip on this site. The treatment takes under an hour, there is no hospital stay, and you can fly the next day. Two nights is comfortable: arrive and be assessed, be treated, travel home. Many patients combine it with a longer trip, which is sensible, because swelling and bruising are at their worst on days two and three.

Istanbul is the obvious choice. It has the largest concentration of plastic surgeons and dermatologists doing injectable and thread work, and crucially it has the clinics that also perform facelifts, so you can get an honest answer about whether threads will do anything for you. Clinics cluster in Şişli, Nişantaşı and Levent, and the two airports give the most direct flights.

Izmir and Ankara both have dermatology and plastic surgery clinics offering threads in a calmer setting, and Ankara's university hospitals are where to go if you have an autoimmune connective tissue condition or any medical complexity that makes a thread lift questionable.

Antalya has the largest number of clinics per resident and the widest quality range. Threads are offered very widely and very cheaply here, including in settings that should not be offering them. If you are in Antalya, verify the doctor and the clinic's authorisation specifically, and be sceptical of treatment offered through a hotel or a tour operator. Also note that sun exposure and swimming are both to be avoided for a period afterwards, and saunas and steam rooms too, which removes much of the point of being there in the week after treatment.

One scheduling point that applies everywhere. Do not have a thread lift immediately before an event. Swelling, bruising and early dimpling take two to six weeks to settle, and the lift looks exaggerated at first and then relaxes. Four to six weeks before is a sensible minimum.

Wherever you go, the clinic must hold the Ministry of Health international health tourism authorisation, the treatment must take place in a licensed medical facility, and a doctor registered with the Turkish Medical Association must place the threads.

The clinic must hold the Ministry of Health International Health Tourism Authorisation Certificate, with the number and the address of the licensed facility, and a doctor registered with the Turkish Medical Association must place the threads. For this treatment, ask both explicitly.

Then the questions that determine whether it will work for you.

Am I a threads patient or a surgery patient? Ask for a straight answer and prefer a clinic that offers both.

Show me in a mirror how much lift is achievable. A doctor who will not demonstrate it is not assessing you.

Is my problem sagging, volume loss or skin excess? The answers lead to threads, filler or surgery respectively, and mixing them up is the commonest error.

How many threads, of what type, and by what manufacturer? Get the number and the material in writing, and ask specifically whether any are mono threads, which give no lift.

What vectors will you lift along, and which areas?

How long will it last, honestly? Twelve to eighteen months is the answer to expect.

What happens if I get dimpling or asymmetry after I fly home? Who sees me, and who pays?

Are you combining this with filler or botulinum toxin, and in what order and at what interval?

Who places the threads, and what is their specialty and their experience with facial anatomy?

What is your complication rate for thread extrusion and for nerve problems?

How long before an event should I have this?

May I see before and after photographs of your own patients at three months rather than immediately after treatment?

And the question that reframes the decision: if I repeat this every eighteen months for ten years, what is the total, and what would a facelift cost here? Ask it even if you have no intention of having surgery. The answer tells you what you are actually buying.

A low-risk treatment with a high rate of minor, visible, temporary problems and a small number of serious ones.

Dimpling or puckering. The commonest complaint. A barb catching too superficially pulls the skin into a small dent. Usually settles in two to six weeks, sometimes needs the thread released, massaged or removed.

Asymmetry. Common early from uneven swelling and sometimes persistent, usually correctable by adding a thread on the lighter side.

Palpable threads. A firm line felt under the skin, more likely in thin faces, generally settling as the thread absorbs.

Visible thread ends or extrusion. A thread end working its way out through an entry point, which needs trimming or removal by the doctor. Unpleasant rather than dangerous, and awkward if you have flown home.

Under-correction and disappointment. The most frequent overall outcome problem, and almost always a selection error: threads used on laxity too heavy for them.

Swelling and bruising, mild to moderate, worst on days two and three, occasionally lasting two weeks.

Prolonged tightness or a pulling sensation on smiling and chewing, normal early and occasionally persisting for months.

Pain and tenderness at the entry points for days to weeks.

Infection at an entry point, needing antibiotics and sometimes removal of the thread.

Nodules or granulomas along the thread track, uncommon.

Nerve irritation causing numbness in a patch of skin, usually temporary.

Temporary weakness of facial movement, uncommon, from irritation of a facial nerve branch.

Rare and serious. Facial nerve injury, which can cause lasting asymmetry of movement. Parotid duct injury. Both are anatomy-dependent, which is why a doctor must place the threads.

Skin necrosis at an entry point, rare.

Allergic reaction to the thread material, rare.

Interaction with existing filler. Threads passed through recently placed filler can displace it, and filler placed into a thread track can migrate. A sequencing problem rather than a complication, and avoidable.

The limitation, not a risk. Twelve to eighteen months. Everything you like about the result is temporary and the cost recurs.

Very little of this is serious. Almost all of it is visible on your face for a few weeks, which is worth planning around, and the one thing that decides whether you are satisfied at six months is whether you were the right patient in the first place.

It is worth it if you have early laxity, good skin quality, no great excess of skin, and you want a subtle improvement without surgery. In that patient a thread lift softens the jawline and lifts the outer cheek a few millimetres, takes under an hour, needs no general anaesthetic, and lets you fly home the next day looking slightly swollen and otherwise normal. Turkey offers it widely and at a fraction of Western European prices, and the best Turkish clinics also perform facelifts, which means they can tell you honestly whether threads will do anything for you at all. That honest answer is the most valuable thing in the consultation.

It is not worth it if your jowls are heavy, your neck has dropped, or you have real skin excess. Threads cannot lift weight, and on that face the effect is gone within weeks. This is where nearly all the disappointment in this category comes from, and it is a selection error rather than a technical failure. If your own assessment is that your jawline is heavy rather than slightly soft, get a surgical opinion before buying threads, even if you are certain you do not want an operation.

And be clear about two claims. It is not a facelift: a facelift repositions the deep layer and removes skin, and it lasts about a decade. And it does not defer one. There is no good evidence that having threads now means less surgery later, because nothing about a dissolvable suture changes how a face ages. Expect twelve to eighteen months from the lift itself. The collagen stimulation is real and it is a change in skin quality, not a persisting lift, so judge the treatment on the lift and treat the two to three year claims as describing something else.

Before you book, do one piece of arithmetic that clinics never volunteer. Six or seven thread lifts across ten years, at the price you have been quoted, against the price of a facelift at the same clinic. In most quotes the threads cost more and delivered a fraction of the change. That is not a reason against having one; it is a reason to stop thinking of threads as the affordable version of surgery. They are the convenient version, and convenience is a perfectly good thing to buy.

Then check one thing specifically, more carefully than you would for any operation on this site. This treatment passes a needle several centimetres under your facial skin, near branches of the facial nerve and near the parotid duct, and it is marketed heavily by premises that have no business offering it. Get the name and specialty of the doctor placing the threads, the clinic's Ministry of Health authorisation number, the thread type and manufacturer in writing, and a clear answer about who sees you and who pays if you get dimpling or a thread end after you fly home. Decline it entirely if it is offered through a hotel, a salon or a tour operator.

The comparison table above shows what this costs where you live, from published prices and marked where a figure is an estimate. The consultation request below reaches a coordinator who can put you in front of a doctor who also performs facelifts, which is the opinion worth having before you decide.