PDO thread lifts in London: what the threads are, how long the lift lasts, and what it costs

This guide is written by the team that offers PDO threads at our Chelsea clinic on Exhibition Road and reviewed by our doctor, who also places the threads. It covers what the threads are and what they are cleared for, what the studies measured, what the procedure and the recovery involve, the side effects to plan for, how we price it, and what to ask any clinic before you book.

What a PDO thread lift is

Polydioxanone, PDO, is a synthetic polymer that the body breaks down by hydrolysis. Surgeons have used it for decades as a dissolving stitch; the datasheet for that suture gives absorption as essentially complete at about six to eight months, with minimal change until about three months. Thread lift threads are the same material drawn into fine filaments and, for lifting, cut with small barbs along their length so they catch in the tissue without a knot.

There are three kinds. Barbed or "cog" threads, with one- or two-directional barbs, are tunnelled through the fat layer under the skin on a long needle or a blunt cannula, then tightened so the barbs hold the soft tissue of the cheek, jawline, brow or neck a little higher. Smooth "mono" threads and twisted "screw" threads have no barbs and are placed under the skin without tension, for skin texture. The newer barbed threads do not come out through the skin at the far end, and a 2025 review reports fewer complications with them.

It is not a facelift, and it does not try to be one. A surgical facelift is an operation that opens the skin, frees and repositions the deeper tissue and removes the excess; a thread lift suspends tissue from inside with a dissolving filament placed through small entry points, for a smaller lift and a recovery of a week or two. It is a needle procedure: local anaesthetic is injected, the threads go in through needles or cannulas and stay in the tissue while they dissolve, and with us they are placed by our doctor.

What the threads are cleared for

• In the United States, PDO threads are 510(k) cleared as absorbable surgical sutures "for use in soft tissue approximation where use of an absorbable suture is appropriate", which means closing or holding tissue together as a stitch does. That is the wording on the 2013 clearance of one barbed PDO thread and on the 2015 clearance of another. Clearance is not approval, and it covers only the named product.
• One PDO family is cleared for face suspension. In March 2023 one PDO product family was cleared "for use in face suspension surgery to temporarily fixate the cheek sub dermis in an elevated position", the regulator's own term for what a lifting thread does. Two other PDO thread products, cleared in June 2019 and December 2021, carry the opposite sentence, "the suture is not intended for lifting and supporting tissues". So "FDA approved" is the wrong phrase and the product name is the right question; your written plan from us names the thread type.
• In England, no licence is yet required to perform a thread lift, so who places the threads matters: with us it is our doctor, Dr Marie Duggan, GMC 7488383. The government's response to its licensing consultation, published in August 2025, promises that the highest-risk procedures will be restricted to regulated healthcare professionals, and the 2023 proposals put thread lifts in that top tier according to a law-firm summary; no start date has been set in England.

What the studies show

There is a visible lift on the day. The studies below measured how much, for how long, and the side effects along the way, and they are the figures our doctor plans your treatment on.

• The most recent review (2025). 12 studies of absorbable mid- and lower-face thread lifts, 818 patients, PDO the most common material: aesthetic scores improved immediately, complications were mostly mild, and follow-up ran to two years.
• The 160-patient PDO series (2019). 160 consecutive patients had a PDO barbed thread lift. The lift was present immediately and at one month, had declined noticeably by six months and was no longer apparent at one year. 55 patients, 34%, had an early complication: superficial displacement of a thread in 11%, redness in 9%, infection in 6%, dimpling in 6%, temporary stiffness in 1%.
• A 24-month PDO study (2018). A single-author, single-centre comparative study of absorbable barbed PDO threads reported a lift of 3 to 10 mm, "significant long-lasting effects" over a 24-month follow-up and a complication rate of about 5%, with better results when combined with other treatments. It comes from a single centre, so we plan on the shorter figures of the larger series.
• Satisfaction stays high. A 2021 meta-analysis of thread lifts of mixed materials found pooled satisfaction of 98% immediately after the procedure and 88% in the longer term.
• Collagen. In animal and laboratory work the threads set off a collagen response around them: in a rat study more filaments meant more collagen at two weeks, and much less by week twelve. We plan and price a thread lift on the lift you see, not on collagen.
• How long it lasts. The lift is at its best in the first months: in the one series that followed PDO barbed threads systematically it had softened by six months and was gone by twelve, and the material is expected to have absorbed by about eight months on the suture datasheet. One single-centre study reports 24 months. We plan a repeat within the year for anyone who wants to keep the lift.

What that means for you: a lift you see on the day (3 to 10 mm in the study that measured it), softening over the following months, and a repeat within the year to keep it. Early complication rates ran from about 5% to 34% depending on the study, which is why we place conservatively and review you within a week.

Who a PDO thread lift suits, and who it does not

It suits an adult with early to moderate sagging of the mid-face or jawline (the brow and neck have less published evidence), reasonable skin thickness and no bleeding tendency, who wants a visible lift from a needle procedure under local anaesthetic and can set aside a week or two for swelling, bruising and restrictions while it settles.

It does not suit, and we will say so:

• Heavy sagging, a heavy neck or marked jowls. That needs more lift than a thread holds; the doctor will say so at the consultation and refer you to a surgeon.
• Very thin skin, where in practice threads show, dimple or extrude more readily (sun-damaged skin is our own caution).
• Anyone who wants a result that lasts for years without a repeat.
• Anyone who wants volume rather than lift. A filler does that job; our doctor can provide one, and we will say so rather than place threads.

Who should not have it. The first four items follow clinic consent templates and the 2025 review; the rest are our own precautions, to be confirmed against the thread manufacturer's instructions at your consultation:

• Pregnancy and breastfeeding.
• An active skin infection in the area.
• A bleeding disorder, anticoagulants, or regular aspirin that cannot be paused, because the needle passes bleed.
• Autoimmune disease, where we take advice first.
• Our own precautions: a suppressed immune system, a cold sore or inflamed skin in the area, anti-inflammatory painkillers that cannot be paused, keloid or hypertrophic scarring, recent dental work or a dental infection, and surgery or another implant in the same plane.

What the procedure is like, step by step

1. Consultation. The doctor examines your face standing and lying down, lifts the tissue with a finger to show you what a thread can do, and tells you plainly whether threads or one of our energy-based treatments will give you the change you want. You get the plan (areas, thread type and count), the price and the aftercare in writing. Consultations and follow-up reviews are free.
2. Marking and anaesthetic. The vectors are drawn on your skin. Local anaesthetic is injected at the entry points and along the planned paths; in our experience this is the part most people find uncomfortable.
3. Placing the threads. Through a small entry point, a long needle or a blunt cannula carries each thread under the skin along the drawn line. Barbed threads are then tightened so the tissue moves up and the tail is trimmed below the skin. In our practice a mid-face and jawline lift uses several threads a side and takes about 30 to 60 minutes in all.
4. Straight after. You look lifted, swollen and a little uneven, with small puncture marks and often a bruise or two. You can go home; you should not drive if you feel faint, so plan a quiet evening.
5. The next two weeks. Swelling and bruising settle, puckers and dimples usually ease in our experience, and the lift settles to what it will be. We review you within a week, and sooner if anything worries you.

How long it takes, when you see the result, how long it lasts

What a PDO thread lift costs in London

Thread lifts are priced by area and by the number of threads.

We price PDO thread lifts from a starting price, confirmed in writing at your free consultation, and we price match any comparable written quote. Consultations and follow-up reviews are free whatever you decide.

When you compare quotes, compare who places the threads (with us, our doctor) and the thread type and count, which our written plan names with the price and the review date.

Results you can check

At your consultation the doctor shows you photographs of our own patients where we have them, with their consent and taken at the same angle and distance, and in our practice you compare your own at the two-to-four-week review and again at six months. Our reviews are collected through review.clinic, and the badge on this page links to them: 4.8 out of 5 from 53 reviews in October 2026.

PDO thread lifts compared with the alternatives

Threads vs ultrasound and radiofrequency devices. They work differently, and we offer both: threads give an immediate mechanical lift that the devices do not; the devices, at our sister clinics, leave nothing in the tissue and work gradually. Our sister clinics also provide Morpheus8, Exion and Profhilo. The doctor will tell you at the consultation which suits your face.

Threads vs a surgical facelift. Different stages: a thread lift suits early to moderate sagging, placed through needle entry points under local anaesthetic, with a week or two of recovery; heavier sagging is a facelift's job, and the doctor will tell you at the consultation which stage you are at.

Threads vs fillers and other injectable treatments. Different jobs: a filler adds volume, a thread suspends tissue. If you want injectable treatments as well, our doctor can provide them; we time them around your threads. If you have had filler in the same area, tell us: a thread in the same plane is a reason to wait or to decline.

Side effects, and the risks to weigh

Expected: swelling (35% of patients in a pooled analysis of 26 studies of all thread types), bruising at the entry points and along the thread paths, tenderness, a tight or stiff feeling when you chew or smile, and small puckers or dimples where the barbs pull, which in practice mostly ease over one to two weeks.

Common enough to plan for: dimpling (10% pooled across all thread types, 6% in the 160-patient PDO series), a thread displaced too superficially (11% in that series), altered sensation (6% pooled), infection (2% pooled, 6% in the PDO series), and extrusion of a thread end through the skin (2% pooled). Older patients had more dimpling and infection in the pooled data, and the older thread type that exits the skin had more bleeding and dimpling than the newer type in a 2025 review.

Rare and serious, mostly reported with older non-absorbable threads but possible with any thread: migration of a thread, injury to the parotid duct or a branch of the facial nerve, persistent pain or a foreign-body feeling, granulomas, and a thread that has to be removed, which is harder than putting it in. Save Face, the register, describes serious infections and vascular occlusions in women treated outside medical settings and names the causes as wrong training, wrong placement and wrong threads; with us the threads are placed by our doctor, in a clinic.

Three things we plan for. First, asymmetry and over-correction on the day that only settles partly, which is why we place conservatively and review early. Second, the repeat: the lift fades within the year, so a repeat is part of the plan for anyone who wants to keep it, with the same aftercare, review and side effects to plan for each time. Third, the practitioner: in England anyone may perform a thread lift; ours is a doctor, Dr Marie Duggan, GMC 7488383.

How to choose a thread lift clinic in London

• Ask who holds the needle and what they are registered as. Ours is Dr Marie Duggan, GMC 7488383, the doctor who also reviews this guide.
• Ask which thread is used, and how many. Our written plan names the thread type and count; "FDA approved" is the wrong phrase for any PDO thread.
• Ask how long it lasts and where the number comes from. Ours: months, from the largest PDO series, with a repeat within the year to keep the lift.
• Ask for the complication rate the clinic quotes and what happens if a thread shows, dimples, migrates or gets infected, and who removes it. The published figures are set out above, and our doctor reviews you within a week.
• Ask for the plan in writing: areas, thread type and count, the price, the review date and the aftercare.

Aftercare

Our aftercare, which we give you in writing: cold compresses for the first evening; sleep on your back with your head raised for about a week; no wide mouth opening, hard or chewy food, facial massage, pressing or rubbing for one to two weeks; no make-up over the entry points for 24 hours; no saunas, steam, pools, hard exercise or alcohol for about a week; no dental treatment for two weeks unless urgent, and tell the dentist; keep the entry points clean and dry. Tell us straight away about spreading redness, increasing pain, a thread you can see or feel at the surface, a lump, a change in sensation that does not settle, or any weakness of the face, and come to the review within a week whether or not anything worries you.

Frequently asked questions