Background and Objectives The effects of thread-lifting remain controversial because of the lack of a standardized protocol. To examine the treatment practices of Korean doctors who frequently perform thread-lifting.
Materials and Methods At a large-scale aesthetic conference in Korea, we conducted a survey including clinicians who practice facial thread-lifting and analyzed the procedures and preferences of the doctors who participated in the questionnairebased survey. We then compared the treatment characteristics of clinicians who perform thread-lifting at least once per week (high-frequency) to those of clinicians who perform it less than once per week (low-frequency) using multivariate regression analyses.
Results Overall, 243 clinicians participated in the questionnaire-based survey, and the responses of 150 participants who currently perform thread-lifting were analyzed. The number of threads injected per hemi-face was higher in the high-frequency group than in the low-frequency group. Furthermore, the high-frequency group was more likely to use molding cog threads than the low-frequency group.
Conclusion Practitioners who frequently perform thread-lifting are likely to prefer molding cog threads and insert a relatively large number of threads per face. These results facilitate the development of a standard thread-lifting procedure and standard evaluation protocol for the effectiveness of this procedure.

Keywords: Thread lifting, Protocol of thread lifting, Molding thread, Cog thread