Everything You Need to Know About the Non-Surgical PDO Face and Neck Lift

Wrinkles are just the surface manifestation. The actual problem is usually that the skin has started to lose its snap. When that happens, gravity takes over, and the skin on your lower face and neck starts to travel downward. This is what creates those sagging jowls or a heavy look under the chin.

For a long time, the only real fix for sagging skin was a surgical facelift. But not everyone wants to go under the knife or deal with a long, painful recovery. At Glo & Spa-rkle Aesthetics & Med Spa, we use the PDO face and neck lift to fix the problem at the source. It’s a minimally invasive procedure that physically lifts your skin back to where it belongs without surgery.

What Exactly are PDO Threads?

PDO stands for Polydioxanone. It sounds like a mouthful, but it’s actually a material that surgeons have used for heart surgeries for over 30 years. It’s a safe, medical-grade string (a suture) that your body knows how to dissolve and absorb naturally over time.

A PDO thread lift procedure builds new scaffolding for your face. We place specialized threads into the deeper layers of your facial tissues to do two things:

1. An Instant Lift: Some threads have tiny, microscopic grips. They grab onto the sagging tissues and let us move the skin upward. You’ll see this skin tightening change the moment we’re done.
2. A Collagen Boom: As the threads sit under your skin, they trigger your body's natural healing response. Your skin starts a process of collagen growth, building a fresh mattress of support. Even after the threads dissolve in about six months, that new collagen stays behind to keep your skin firm.

Why Threads Beat Fillers for Sagging Skin

A lot of people think dermal fillers are the answer for everything. Fillers are great for a liquid facelift when you need to restore volume in your cheeks. We use them a lot in our clinic! But if you have loose and sagging skin on your neck, adding more filler can be a mistake.

If you just keep adding filler to a neck that is already sagging, the area can start to look puffy or heavy. At that point, you aren't lifting the skin. You’re weighing it down more. A thread lift actually addresses the facial structure and gives it a new lift, making it a much more effective treatment for aging skin.

The Mistake We All Make: "Tech Neck"

One reason we see skin laxity show up so early these days is a habit called "tech neck." Think about how often you look down at your phone or hunch over a computer. That constant forward tilt folds the neck skin over and over again.

This repeated folding creates deep horizontal lines and weakens the muscles in your neck. Over time, your skin loses its bounce, and you end up with loose skin much sooner than you should. While you can fix the damage, it also helps to fix the habit. Bringing your phone to eye level is a simple way to protect your skin health in the long run.

Why Safety Matters: The Ultrasound Difference

At Glo & Spa-rkle, we don’t believe in guessing where to place your threads. Your neck and jaw have an important road map of blood vessels, and everyone is built a little differently. Fa-Tia Johnson and our team use real-time ultrasound to see your facial structure before we ever start.

By mapping the treated area with ultrasound, we can see exactly where your vessels are. This allows us to place the threads in the safest, most effective spots to tighten skin and reduce fine lines. This is a level of precision you won't find at every med spa, and it’s a big part of why our results look so natural.

How it Compares to Other Treatments

We have many skin-tightening options, and we often mix them to get you the best results:

• Laser Treatments: A Fraxel laser or laser skin resurfacing is amazing for skin texture, acne scars, and sun damage. But while laser skin looks great on the surface, it doesn't pull or lift as threads do.
• Focused Ultrasound Energy: This non-invasive procedure helps with collagen, but threads give you a more immediate lift you can see on day one.
• Chemical Peels: These help with flaking skin and glow, but they don't reach the deeper layers where skin laxity starts.

What to Expect

This is a minimally invasive treatment, so we use local numbing to keep you awake and comfortable. You’ll feel some pressure and tugging, but most patients find it very easy to handle.

Afterward, your neck might feel a little tight for a few days, like a muscle soreness you feel after a hard workout. We’ll give you simple rules to follow, like sleeping on your back for a few nights, to make sure the threads stay perfectly in place while they anchor into the tissue.

Results That Last

The lift you see in the office is just the start. The real magic happens over the next three months as your collagen production peaks. While the threads dissolve in about six months, the new collagen growth can keep your jawline looking sharp for 12 to 18 months. If you’re ready to stop the sag and get your profile back, a nonsurgical facelift might be exactly what you need.