PDO thread lifts — the $3,000 procedure with a 50/50 chance of disappointment
So I finally did it. After months of researching and watching YouTube videos, I got PDO thread lifts done last Thursday. Paid $2,800 for cheeks and jawline. The procedure itself wasn’t bad—numbing worked pretty well, just some tugging sensations. But now I’m on day 5 and honestly? I’m not seeing what I hoped for.
My left side looks slightly lifted, my right side looks basically the same as before. There’s still some swelling so maybe that’s affecting things, but I asked my injector about the asymmetry and she said “threads settle differently in everyone.” Which… okay? But for $3k I expected more precision?
I’ve been reading reviews online and it seems like it’s literally a coin flip whether you get great results or basically nothing. Some people look 10 years younger, others are like me wondering if anything actually happened. My friend swears by them and gets them done yearly, but now I’m wondering if I should’ve just saved up for an actual facelift or stuck with my tirzepatide face gains and good skincare.
Anyone else have experience with threads? Does the result improve after swelling goes down completely? I’m trying to stay optimistic but also kicking myself for not doing more due diligence on my provider.
Girl I feel you on this. I got them done about 8 months ago and honestly the results lasted maybe 3 months before everything went back to baseline. My injector was highly recommended too, so I don’t think it was a skill issue. I think threads just work better on some people than others depending on your skin quality and tissue density. The asymmetry you’re describing is pretty common from what I’ve seen in fb groups. Give it the full 2 weeks before you panic though—mine looked weird and uneven until about day 12, then suddenly clicked into place. But yeah, managing expectations with threads is rough.
The problem with PDO threads is that they’re being marketed as a facelift alternative when they’re really not. They work best for very minimal laxity and more for collagen stimulation over time rather than immediate lifting. I’m 47M and considered them but my dermatologist straight up told me I’d be disappointed and to either wait for a surgical option or focus on skin quality with RF microneedling and continue my peptide protocol. In my opinion the aesthetic industry oversells threads because the profit margin is huge and they can repeat the procedure yearly. Not saying they never work, but the hype doesn’t match reality for most people.
I actually had a good experience with mine but I think it’s because I went in with super low expectations? I got them done 6 months ago for neck/jawline and yeah there was def some asymmetry at first like you described. It evened out after about 3 weeks. The lift itself is subtle—like maybe 20% improvement—but the texture of my skin got better over the following months from the collagen production. I think the issue is providers showing these dramatic before/afters that aren’t realistic. Also some of those results are mixed with filler or other treatments. For reference I’m 39 and have pretty good skin elasticity from tret and GHK-Cu so maybe that helped?
This is exactly why I cancelled my thread appointment and put that money toward Sculptra instead. The inconsistency with threads is wild and there’s not enough long term data on how they actually perform across different face types. What bugs me is how many injectors are doing weekend certification courses and then charging premium prices. snowy_owl, definitely wait the full healing period, but also document everything with photos in the same lighting. If you’re not happy at 6 weeks, you should have a serious conversation with your provider about what went wrong. Some will offer corrections or partial refunds if the result is truly asymmetric due to technique issues.