There is a lot of speculation on the internet over which celebrities have undergone a cosmetic treatment to give their eyes a snatched look that mimics a fox’s eye shape. The lifted, “almond-shaped” look seen on Ariana Grande, Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Megan Fox is one that can be achieved using makeup or a super-tight ponytail. However, a notion that PDO threads are behind the fox-eye trend has emerged and while we can’t speculate if this is true, we did want to know if PDO threads are even an option for this. To learn more, we tapped two thread lift experts who let us know if women in their 20s and 30s are really reshaping their features with absorbable sutures.
Nonsurgical Eyelifting
According to Chicago plastic surgeon and thread lift expert Julius Few, MD, the eye shape can experience a change with a nonsurgical browlift, but often times the threads are not acting alone. “With lateral brow lifting, which is really what this is, it’s important to note that the reasons this happens or the change in the eye shape can be made, is because of the interconnection between the ligaments that define the brow and the ligaments that define the corner of the eye—they are attached. So, if you affect a change in the anatomy of the outer third of the brow, it does also change the corner of the eye. However, the really important thing which nobody really talks about enough is the idea that you have to have a botulinum toxin working on board. If you try to do any kind of suture suspension to the brow without a neurotoxin working it will last, at best, four to six weeks.”
Not Everyone Should Try It
The first question when considering a thread lift is, “Does it really work?” Yes, says Los Angeles facial plastic surgeon Denise Wong, MD, but only in the right candidates. In the wrong ones, visible threads can be seen which is not the desired outcome. “I think in certain candidates this treatment is okay, you just have to be careful, obviously, and know what their goals are and what kind of look they’re trying to achieve,” she explains. “You have to be selective about your candidates. When people have thin skin or they don’t have a lot of volume, more likely than not, the threads are going to show or can migrate so you have to be careful to only do this in the right candidates to avoid anything like that.”
The Longevity Factor
Delray Beach dermatologist Dr. Janet Allenby agrees that there are better options that last longer for patients who are the right candidates for this type of treatment. “I personally think longevity with the threads is so-so. I like them okay, but they just have a finite longevity to them, which can be disappointing for some people. More often I’ll use filler, off-label, along the hairline and that actually pulls the eyes up and out. I’ll typically usually I use a hyaluronic acid in the area.”
False Photo-Assumptions
Techniques aside, Dr. Few is clear to note that a nonsurgical browlift should be done on a patient who is an appropriate candidate and not to mirror a trend that can easily be the result of celebrity makeup and hairstyling tricks. “I think so many of these things are showing pictures that you know are at an extreme, when the truth is in real life that people don’t look that way anyway. It totally negates the idea of brow shaping just through makeup techniques. Online speculation over photos of celebrities can be very misleading.”
As for the patient who wants to mimic the trend, Dr. Few adds that in the right candidate these treatments can make a difference, but one shouldn’t aim for a look that doesn’t fit naturally with their anatomy. “I’m not somebody who’s recommending this as an appropriate brow position or see the need to hyper-elevate the area on a 25-year-old patient in order to reshape the eye in an unnatural way, or to create an unnatural effect. If you have somebody with what we call a superior lateral, which means that kind of upward cat-eye and they just want it to be more defined, that’s a different discussion. The truth is that most of the time you get the same effect with artful botulinum toxin as with a thread.”
