Have you questioned how the F everybody on Instagram appears to own the exact same face? Big eyes, plump lips, thin nose, pointy chin—all mistily similar to a Hadid/Kardashian/Jenner mashup? The answer has, traditionally, been FaceTune. Or one among the hundred different photo-editing apps that may tuck and blur your face into one thing kind of, sorta resembling your favorite celebrity. But apparently, people are currently taking their filtering one step further. Choosing an in-office procedure referred to as “thread lifts” to pinch and pull their IRL faces into the cat eyes of the Instagram world. Basically, a hair-raiser version of the ’90s cosmetic surgery craze that gave everybody Britney’s nose and Madonna’s face. And I’ve got…some queries.
We have to ask: WTF are thread lifts?
Thread lifts, for the less informed, are primarily a non-surgical brow raise that involves inserting a small dissolvable thread into the face and pull up the skin. It permits a surgeon or cosmetic dermatologist to “lift” different parts of your face and body, looking on wherever they insert them. Basically, the real-life version of FaceTune.
And Why Now?
Though thread lifts aren’t specifically new, it just recently gained some thought popularity. Because of their (alleged) ability to provide mere mortals the cat-eye look of celebrities like Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, etc.
In fact, Celeb Face (the extremely popular, terribly ruthless Instagram account dedicated to calling out questionable celebrity photos) recently announced a series of pictures and information dedicated to thread lifts. Showing the before-and-after results of real patients who underwent the procedure—getting them one step closer to the Instagram aesthetic that’s essentially dominating our culture right now.
The comments, for what it’s worth, are mixed, with some folks completely despising the look. Others claiming that thread lifts are literally dangerous. A few earnestly asking if the results are correct. That brings us to…
The Photos Are A Bit Misleading
“These pics look like they were taken immediately before and after the threads were inserted, which is a little unfair. That pulled-back effect is actually only temporary,” says Dr. Idriss. “You’re only going to see a nice ‘lift’ for the first 2-3 weeks, and then your body starts to absorb the threads and the lift goes down.” Therefore if your final dream is to appear like an Instagram model ( Stop! You’re perfect! ), thread lifts can solely offer you the effects for a couple of weeks, max.
Should You Try Thread Lifts?
If you’re doing it for the only purpose of looking like an A-list celebrity with very glorious DNA (…and on-call dermatologists, makeup artists, trainers, etc.), then I’m in the huge old’ NOPE camp, as is Dr. Idriss. “The way I see it is as a long-term road, and I wouldn’t want your face to lose its proportions as time goes by and this trend eventually fades,” she says.
And the Instagram face will fade, same as all trends in the history of the globe have faded before it (RIP skinny brows). therefore even though I know self-love is unbelievably laborious, recovering from medical complications galvanized by a short Instagram trend is definitely tougher.
XOXO
