What to ask about the cause of your sagging before you ask about threads, how to ask about direction rather than count, what a duration range actually means, and how to ask for the case where the answer is no.
Almost every thread lift enquiry begins with the same question: how many threads will I need? It is a natural question, it sounds like the practical one, and it is close to useless as a way of understanding what is being proposed to you.
The reason is that a thread count is an output, not an input. It follows from a diagnosis — what is causing the descent, in which direction, at which layer — and asking for the output before the diagnosis exists produces a number attached to an assumption.
This page sets out what to ask about the cause of your sagging first, how to ask about direction and placement instead of count, what a duration range actually tells you, and how to ask for the answer most patients never hear. The clinical content behind these questions — how thread types are chosen, when a thread lift is not the right approach — is covered in its own pages.
Ask about the cause before the method: is my sagging coming from skin, from fat, from the retaining ligaments, or from volume loss, and how did you determine that? Then ask about direction and placement rather than number — which vectors, into which layer, and why those. Ask what duration you can expect for the specific thread proposed, and what the range depends on. And ask directly what would make you say no, because a practitioner who has considered your case has considered that too.
On this page
- Why the order matters here too
- Questions about the cause
- Why the thread count is the wrong question
- How to ask about direction and placement
- Questions about the thread itself
- Questions about duration, and what a range means
- How to ask for the case where the answer is no
- Questions about the procedure itself
- Questions about recovery
- Questions about what happens after it wears off
- Bringing an old photograph
- What a good answer sounds like
- What a poor answer sounds like
- Questions patients ask
Why the order matters here too
Sagging is a description of an appearance, not a diagnosis. Several different processes produce a face that looks as though it is descending, and they call for different responses — one of which is not a thread lift at all.
A consultation that begins with threads has skipped the step that determines whether threads are the right instrument. A consultation that begins with the cause reaches the question of threads with the information needed to answer it.
So the first several questions on your list should contain no mention of threads whatsoever. That feels counterintuitive when threads are what you came about. It is the whole of the method.
Questions about the cause
These establish what is actually happening, and everything afterwards depends on them.
What is causing the descent in my case? Skin elasticity, the distribution and volume of fat, the retaining ligaments, or a combination. Ask which, and in what proportion.
How did you determine that? Ask what in the examination pointed to that conclusion. The reasoning is the part you can evaluate; the conclusion by itself is not.
Is any of what bothers me volume loss rather than sagging? These look similar and are addressed differently. It is a distinction worth raising explicitly, because a plan aimed at the wrong one produces a disappointing result for a reason nobody identified.
Which direction has my tissue actually moved? Descent is not uniformly downward, and the direction determines the plan.
Is my sagging at a stage where this is the right approach? There is a range within which lifting with threads is appropriate. Ask where you sit in it, and what would place you outside it.
What else did you notice that I did not ask about? As with any consultation, this question routinely produces the most useful answer.
Why the thread count is the wrong question
Worth understanding rather than merely accepting, because the count is what almost every advertisement leads with.
A number of threads describes a quantity of material. It does not describe where they went, in which direction they pulled, at what depth they were placed, or whether any of that matched the cause of your descent. Two procedures using the same number of threads can be entirely different procedures.
The clinic's position on this is explicit:
“What matters most in a thread lift is not the number of threads, but their exact position and direction. Because the cause and direction of sagging differ from face to face, designing the right threads for the areas that need them matters more than simply using a large number of threads.” — Dr. Dae-hee Han, written consultation reply
For context, the average across the whole face is around fourteen threads, adjusted to the degree of descent and the goal of the correction. That figure is worth knowing so that a proposal far outside it prompts a question — but it is a typical value rather than a target, and a plan should not be assembled to reach it.
The practical consequence for your list: if the only number you leave with is a thread count, you have not learned what is being done to your face.
How to ask about direction and placement
These questions replace the count, and they are answerable specifically.
In which direction will the tissue be moved, and why that direction? The answer should relate to the direction your tissue has descended, rather than to a standard pattern.
Which areas are being treated, and which are deliberately not? A plan that leaves something untreated should say so, and say why.
At what layer are the threads placed? Depth affects both what the lift reaches and how it settles.
How will this affect the width of my face? A frequent concern, and a legitimate one: the direction of lift determines whether the mid-face is emphasised or not. Ask specifically how the proposed vectors address it.
What does this plan do about the jawline? Or whichever area concerns you most. Ask what the plan reaches and where it stops.
Questions about the thread itself
Several thread types exist and they are not interchangeable.
Which thread are you proposing, and why that one for me? The answer should refer to your skin elasticity, your fat distribution and the cause of your descent — not to a general preference for a product.
What are the alternatives, and what ruled them out? As with any plan, the discarded options are informative.
Are you proposing more than one type? Combinations exist. If one is proposed, ask what each element is doing.
What is this thread made of, and how does it behave over time? Materials differ in how they are absorbed and in what they leave behind.
Questions about duration, and what a range means
Duration is the question patients weigh most heavily and understand least precisely.
The confirmed ranges differ by thread type: PDO threads last around six to eight months, while Silhouette Soft and Aptos last roughly one year to one and a half years. Individual skin elasticity and how far ageing has progressed both affect where in the range a given person falls.
What to ask about it:
Which range applies to what you are proposing for me? The ranges belong to specific threads, so the answer depends on the plan.
What determines where I fall in that range? A range is not a margin of error. It reflects real variation, and the factors driving it are discussable.
What happens at the end of it — does it return to how it was? Ask what the appearance is at the point the effect has faded, rather than assuming.
Is there anything about me that suggests the shorter or the longer end? A practitioner who has examined you can usually say something specific about this.
Be cautious of a single figure given with confidence. Duration varies by individual, and a precise number offered without a range is describing an average as though it were your result.
How to ask for the case where the answer is no
The most informative question you can ask, and the one that requires the most deliberate phrasing.
Do not ask “is this suitable for me?” — that invites a yes. Ask instead: in what circumstances would you tell someone not to have this? And is there anything in my case that comes close to those circumstances?
Two follow-ups make it harder to answer generically. What would you recommend instead if you thought this was not right for me? A practitioner with a considered view has an alternative in mind. And what does this procedure not do? Every intervention has a boundary, and being told where yours sits is the difference between a satisfied patient and a disappointed one at six months.
The clinic's stated position is that a thread lift is not recommended to every patient, and that where skin sagging has progressed considerably, a facelift can be a more effective choice. That position exists precisely so that this question has a real answer. Which situations fall outside a thread lift is set out in its own page.
Questions about the procedure itself
Practical, brief, and worth asking so that nothing on the day is a surprise.
How long the consultation and the procedure take — at Edition, around twenty to thirty minutes for the consultation and fifteen to twenty for the procedure, varying with the patient's condition and the extent of what is being treated. What anaesthesia is used, and what you will feel. What you will see immediately afterwards, and whether you can go straight back out. Whether anything is placed or marked that has to be attended to later.
Questions about recovery
Ask for the first fortnight in specifics rather than in general reassurance.
What is expected in the first week, and what would not be. When you can return to work, and what that assumes. What you must not do, and for how long — exercise, alcohol, saunas, facial massage each have their own interval. What sensations are normal as tissue settles, and which ones warrant contacting the clinic. And when the result is assessed rather than merely looked at.
These have defined answers, and the detail behind each of them is covered in the recovery pages.
Questions about what happens after it wears off
Rarely asked at a first consultation, and worth asking then rather than a year later.
Can it be repeated, and on what basis? Ask what determines whether a repeat is appropriate rather than assuming an interval.
What happens to threads already in place? A material question with a factual answer.
Is there a fixed schedule for a retouch? Ask whether the timing is decided by the calendar or by what the examination finds.
Does having had this affect other options later? If a facelift becomes the right answer in some years, ask whether previous thread work bears on it.
Bringing an old photograph
One piece of preparation is worth more here than in almost any other consultation, and almost nobody does it.
Bring a photograph of yourself from several years ago — front-facing, ordinary lighting, neutral expression. Not as a target to be restored, but as evidence. Descent is a change over time, and a change is only visible when there are two points to compare. A photograph shows which tissue has moved and in what direction, which is precisely the information the plan is built from.
It also disciplines the conversation in a useful way. Patients describe what they see in the mirror today, and the mirror does not carry a memory. A photograph converts “my face has dropped” into something specific: this area, in this direction, by roughly this much.
Bring two or three from different years if you have them. And bring one taken recently in the same conditions, so that the comparison is between faces rather than between lighting conditions.
What a good answer sounds like
It refers to your face rather than to faces generally. It gives the reasoning as well as the conclusion. It uses ranges where ranges are honest, and specifics where specifics exist. It states what the plan does not address. And it contains at least one thing you did not want to hear.
That last point is the reliable one. A consultation in which everything you hoped for was confirmed is a consultation in which either you are unusually fortunate or something was left unsaid.
What a poor answer sounds like
It leads with a number of threads before any finding has been described. It recommends a product rather than an approach. It gives a single figure for duration with no range and no variation. It agrees with everything you suggested. It has no answer to the question of when this would not be advisable. Or it moves quickly to booking — availability, dates, an offer — before the assessment is finished.
None of these is proof of anything by itself. Two or three together are a pattern.
Questions patients ask
How many threads will I need?
It follows from the diagnosis rather than preceding it. The average across the whole face is around fourteen, adjusted to the degree of descent and the goal, but the useful questions are about direction, placement and depth.
How long will it last?
It depends on the thread. PDO threads last around six to eight months; Silhouette Soft and Aptos around one to one and a half years. Ask which applies to what is being proposed for you, and what determines where in the range you fall.
Will it make my face look wider?
Ask specifically about the direction of lift in your plan, since that is what determines the answer. It is a common enough concern to be worth raising explicitly rather than hoping it has been considered.
What should I ask if I have had threads before?
Ask what is still in place, what that means for the plan, and whether a repeat is appropriate on the evidence of the examination rather than on an interval.
How do I ask whether I am a suitable candidate without inviting a yes?
Ask in what circumstances the answer would be no, and whether anything in your case is close to those circumstances. It is much harder to answer generically.
Should I ask about cost at the consultation?
Fee guidance is handled separately by the clinic's consultation manager. Keeping the clinical conversation clinical leaves more time for the questions on this page.
Is a longer consultation better?
Not by itself. What matters is whether the cause was established before the method was proposed. A focused twenty minutes in the right order beats an hour in the wrong one.
About the medical reviewer
Dae-hee Han, MD — Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon (specialist certificate No. 2045, issued 3 March 2014; medical licence 00394, issued 26 February 2009). Master’s degree, Ajou University School of Medicine. Training at the Craniofacial Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan (2013), and the IFAAS Mini Fellowship, University of Florida, USA (2016). Three rhinoplasty papers published in SCIE-indexed international journals. More than 4,500 nose surgeries — Dr. Han’s career total from 2017 to 2025, counted from medical records. He carries out consultation, surgery and follow-up personally; fee guidance is given by the clinic’s consultation manager.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-15
Clinic information
Edition Plastic Surgery Clinic & Dermatology
6F, OPUS 407, 407 Gangnam-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul 06614, Republic of Korea
One minute on foot from Gangnam Station Exit 10
Tel +82-2-591-0100 · editionprs@gmail.com
Consultation hours: Monday to Friday 10:00–19:00 · Saturday 10:00–17:00 · closed Sundays and public holidays
Disclaimer
Individual results may vary. Bleeding, infection, swelling, asymmetry, and scarring can occur. Please decide after a full consultation with a board-certified specialist.
This page is general medical information. It is not a diagnosis, and it does not promise a particular outcome. Surgical fees are given after an in-person consultation.