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A PDO thread lift raises mild sagging along the jawline, jowls and lower face using dissolvable sutures placed under the skin. You see the lift the day the threads go in, and most people are back to normal activities within a day or two. At Formation, Dr. Gopal Grandhige performs thread lifts in the office under local anesthesia, about 4.4 miles north of Rembrandt Gardens on South Howard Avenue.
A PDO thread lift repositions loose tissue and holds it in place while your body builds new collagen around the thread. PDO stands for polydioxanone, a suture material that dissolves on its own. Each thread carries small barbs. Dr. Grandhige passes the threads under the skin through a fine cannula, sets the barbs and lifts the tissue into its new position. The procedure usually takes under an hour.
The thread absorbs over roughly six to nine months. Results typically hold for 12 to 18 months, because the tissue response the thread leaves behind carries part of the lift after the thread is gone. Then the effect fades gradually. That’s the trade you’re making: no incision and very little downtime, in exchange for a result you’ll repeat if you like it.
PDO threads are sutures that reach the market through FDA 510(k) clearance, not FDA approval, and the cleared indication differs from one thread product to the next.
Male aesthetics is one of Dr. Grandhige’s specialties, and Formation’s page on the PDO thread lift for men covers how he plans threads around a masculine jawline. Women come in with the same jowl and jawline concerns, and the anatomy read below applies to both.
Our first four-legged patient. 🐾
Dr. Gopal takes his liposuction and body contouring very seriously.
Even when his patients have four legs.
From loose skin and neck liposuction to a jawline that deserves its own before-and-after reveal, this might be his most dramatic transformation yet.
And yes, he even got the patient’s permission to share the results. 😂
A little Halloween fun from Dr. Gopal and his two very patient pups! 🎃🐶
No dogs underwent surgery. Just two willing participants and one very committed surgeon.
#SurgeonLife #tampa #necklipo
What weight loss can’t fix.
After losing over 100 pounds, this patient had achieved significant weight loss, but was left with excess skin around his abdomen and back that weight loss alone couldn’t address.
During an 8-hour surgery, Dr. Gopal performed a circumferential body lift, a procedure that removes excess skin around the entire midsection to improve body contour.
In this video, Dr. Gopal walks through the procedure, explaining how he removed approximately 3 pounds of skin from the back and estimated another 4–5 pounds would be removed from the abdomen.
He’s also using a small amount of fat collected during the procedure to add volume to the upper chest, improving its contour without performing a separate chest lift.
For patients who have experienced major weight loss, body contouring can help address the excess skin that remains after the weight is gone.
Considering surgery after weight loss? Schedule a consultation with Dr. Gopal at Formation in Tampa to explore your options.
Actual patient footage. Individual results vary.
#BodyContouring #BodyLift #ExcessSkinRemoval
Only 3 months after surgery. And still healing.
This patient had previously undergone a tummy tuck but wanted to improve his abdominal contour, create more definition, and address the appearance of his existing scar.
Dr. Gopal combined several body contouring techniques, including HD liposuction, skin tightening with Renuvion, fat transfer to the chest, and revision of the previous tummy tuck scar.
The result so far? A more defined abdomen, improved body contours, and a revised scar that’s still in the early stages of healing.
At just three months after surgery, these aren’t the final results. Swelling can continue to decrease, and scars typically soften and fade as healing progresses.
Swipe to see a closer look at the scar revision.
Considering body contouring or looking to improve the results of a previous procedure? Schedule a consultation with Dr. Gopal at Formation Tampa. Link in bio.
Actual patient photos. Individual results vary.
#HDLiposuction #BodyContouring #ScarRevision #SkinTightening #TummyTuck
Your fat is liquid gold.
The fat you don’t want might be exactly what another part of your body needs.
During liposuction, the fat we remove doesn’t always have to be discarded. In fact, Dr. Gopal refers to it as “liquid gold.”
Why? Because that fat can sometimes be transferred to another area of the body to add volume, enhance natural contours, and create a more balanced shape.
For women, that might mean adding volume to the breasts, hips, or buttocks. For men, fat transfer can help enhance the chest or shoulders.
And because we’re using your own fat, we can potentially improve two areas during the same surgery.
Of course, fat transfer isn’t right for everyone. It’s something Dr. Gopal discusses with patients beforehand and incorporates into the surgical plan when appropriate.
Considering liposuction in Tampa? Schedule a consultation with Dr. Gopal at Formation to explore your body contouring options.
#TampaLiposuction #FatTransfer #BodyContouring
Cosmetic surgery isn’t just cosmetic.
We often measure the success of plastic surgery by what we can see in before-and-after photos. But some of the most meaningful changes happen in ways a photograph can’t capture.
How someone feels about themselves. The confidence they carry into everyday life. The freedom of no longer feeling uncomfortable in their own skin.
For Dr. Gopal, that’s what makes this work so meaningful.
A patient who underwent body contouring in 2025 recently reached out to share how much the experience continues to mean to her.
She didn’t talk about measurements or how her body looked. She talked about how much better her days had become.
And that’s something Dr. Gopal has always believed: Cosmetic surgery isn’t simply about changing how someone looks. It’s about understanding what that change means to the person choosing it.
#Tampa #CosmeticSurgery #BodyContouring
A flatter stomach without a tummy tuck? 👀
Pregnancy, and sometimes increased pressure from fat deep inside the abdomen, can cause the abdominal muscles to separate down the middle. This is called diastasis recti, and it can make your belly stick out even if you’re otherwise lean.
Traditionally, repairing that separation often meant undergoing a tummy tuck. But what if you don’t have much loose skin to remove?
For the right patient, Dr. Gopal can use robotic-assisted surgery to bring those separated muscles back together through three small incisions, without the long scar associated with a traditional tummy tuck.
That’s exactly what he did for the patient in these before-and-after photos. No tummy tuck. No additional procedures.
**But this approach isn’t for everyone.** If you have significant loose skin or excess fat, a different treatment may be more appropriate. That’s why understanding what’s causing your belly to protrude matters before deciding on surgery.
Curious whether you’re a candidate? DM us or schedule a consultation with Dr. Gopal at Formation Tampa. Link in bio.
Actual patient results. Individual results vary.
#DiastasisRecti #MuscleSeparation #DiastasisRectiRepair #RoboticSurgery #Tampa
Why does fluid sometimes collect after surgery?
After certain surgical procedures, fluid can accumulate beneath the skin, forming what’s called a seroma.
In this video, Dr. Gopal demonstrates how he drains a seroma in a patient recovering from diastasis recti repair.
This is one of the reasons postoperative follow-up matters. It allows Dr. Gopal to monitor healing, identify any issues, and address them when necessary.
Considering surgery? DM us to schedule a consultation with Dr. Gopal at Formation Tampa.
#DiastasisRecti #Seroma #TampaSurgeon #AbdominalMuscleRepair
The fat is gone. But what takes its place?
When fat is removed during liposuction, it leaves behind space beneath the skin. As the body heals, fluid can sometimes collect in that space, creating what’s called a seroma.
And here’s why that matters.
If fluid continues to collect, it can potentially affect the final contour.
That’s why Dr. Gopal pays close attention to fluid buildup during recovery. His approach is to identify seromas early and address them quickly.
Considering liposuction in Tampa? Schedule a consultation with Dr. Gopal at Formation to learn more.
#Liposuction #Seroma #BodyContouring
From medical weight loss to body contouring, her transformation was approached as a journey, not just a single procedure.
This patient started with a personalized medical weight loss program at Formation, working with Dr. Gopal to achieve significant weight loss. Once she reached her goal, Dr. Gopal performed a tummy tuck to remove excess abdominal skin and refine her contour.
Considering medical weight loss or a tummy tuck? Schedule a consultation with Dr. Gopal at Formation Tampa. Link in bio.
Actual patient results. Individual results vary.
Not every patient who wants surgery is ready for it.
One patient came to Dr. Gopal wanting a tummy tuck. Over the next 18 months, she returned multiple times, having lost more weight each time. And each time, the answer was still no.
Not because she couldn’t have the surgery, but because she wasn’t where she wanted to be yet.
Instead of rushing into surgery, the focus was on helping her reach a healthier, more sustainable weight through nutritional counseling, lifestyle support, and medical weight management.
By the time she had lost 80 pounds, she was ready, both physically and mentally.
For Dr. Gopal, being a good surgeon isn’t just about knowing how to perform a procedure. It’s also about knowing when not to perform one.
Sometimes the best result starts long before the operating room.
Considering a tummy tuck? DM us to schedule a consultation with Dr. Gopal at Formation Tampa.
#Tampa #TummyTuck #BodyContouring
Most necks show aging in more than one layer at once. A thread treats one of them. Dr. Grandhige reads all four before he recommends anything, because a thread placed over the wrong problem produces a result you can’t see.
Fullness under the chin is usually fat, and fat is a liposuction problem. Threads lift tissue. They don’t remove it, so a thread placed under a full neck can’t sharpen it.
One Formation patient, a professional in his 40s, felt his neck and jawline made him look heavier and older than he was, even though he was fit and the area never responded to weight loss. After neck liposuction with neck and jawline contouring, colleagues told him he looked rested. He stopped avoiding photos.
Vertical cords that show when you tense your neck are platysmal bands, the edges of the platysma muscle. A PDO thread doesn’t hold them. Where bands are present, the layer-two option is MyEllevate, a permanent suspension suture, paired with platysmaplasty to tighten the muscle itself.
This is where threads belong. Skin that has started to slide along the jaw and into early jowls, but still has reasonable elasticity, responds to a thread lift. Dr. Grandhige’s working window for neck skin that still responds is roughly a skin age of 25 to 55.
Past that window, or once skin hangs in folds, a thread has too little to grip. The plan shifts toward tightening or, when skin needs to be removed, a referral. Formation stays in contact with the surgeons who do facelift-level work well and points patients to the right one.
Some jawlines look soft because the frame underneath sits back. A short chin or a shallow jaw angle can make good skin look loose. Threads don’t add projection. Structural filler does, using Radiesse, a calcium hydroxylapatite, or Juvederm, a hyaluronic acid, placed along the chin and jaw angle. When the read turns up more than one layer, the plan treats each layer on its own terms, and threads may be the smaller part of it.
Threads give a modest lift. They won’t give you a facelift result, and any promise that they will is a sales line. Dr. Grandhige would rather say that at the consultation than after the threads have dissolved.
Side effects are common and mostly short-lived. A meta-analysis of 26 thread-lift studies, discussed in an invited commentary in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, found swelling in about a third of patients and dimpling in roughly one in nine. Visible threads, infection and thread extrusion each came in under 4 percent. The commentary adds a fair caution: the pooled studies mixed permanent and dissolvable threads, so those rates don’t transfer cleanly to PDO alone.
Threads also have a ceiling. If laxity is the main issue and it’s past what a thread can hold, FaceTite, a radiofrequency skin-tightening device, may fit better. You’ll hear which one fits you before anything is scheduled.
Rembrandt Gardens is a small pocket of South Tampa bounded by Lois Avenue, Manhattan Avenue, Interbay Boulevard and Rembrandt Drive, in the 33616 ZIP code. It sits about half a mile north of the Dale Mabry gate at MacDill Air Force Base. Almost every errand there takes a car, so plan the visit as a drive. Formation’s office at 1315 South Howard Avenue is about 4.4 miles north in a straight line.
The in-office consultation with Dr. Grandhige carries a fee. It’s a full surgical assessment, and the fee can be applied toward any procedure or product at Formation. He examines each layer, explains what threads will and won’t change, and tells you plainly if another option fits better or if now isn’t the right time. That candor sits at the center of Formation’s philosophy.
If you’d rather start from home, patient coordinator Hanna offers a complimentary virtual evaluation. She reviews your goals and outlines a plan before you decide to come in.
The fear Dr. Grandhige hears most often is that the result won’t look natural. Patients often raise worries with his staff before they raise them with him. His staff passes those along, so he can answer them without you having to ask.
Recovery from threads is short. What you do around the procedure still shapes the result.
Before treatment, your health and diet are assessed. In the window right before and after the threads go in, nutrition, supplements and peptides are adjusted so your body builds as much new structure around the threads as it can. Protein intake and inflammation control get specific guidance. Formation works from a 60/40 Recovery Standard: the procedure is about 60 percent of the result, and the care afterward is the other 40.
The lift is visible as soon as the threads are set. Over the first few days, expect mild swelling, some bruising and a tight feeling along the jaw, which typically settles within a few days. Most people return to normal activities in a day or two. Strenuous exercise and facial massage wait two weeks.
If your routine includes the ball fields at Gadsden Park, about a mile east on South MacDill Avenue, or a run on the waterfront path at Ballast Point Park, east along Interbay Boulevard, push those back until the two weeks are up. Over the following months the threads absorb, and the collagen response carries part of the lift.
The thread is the same thread at every practice that offers it. The thinking around it isn’t.
Dr. Grandhige is a board-certified general surgeon who specializes in aesthetic surgery, certified through the American Board of Surgery. He attended the University of Michigan Medical School, trained at Yale, and completed fellowship training in burn surgery, critical care, and minimally invasive metabolic and foregut surgery. He has performed surgery for more than 15 years and has practiced in Tampa for just as long.
That training ran through units where wound healing and inflammation decided outcomes. It shows in how he plans even a small procedure: do only what’s necessary, and do it well. He follows his surgical patients for a full year, and nearly all of them stay for the whole year.
South Tampa is one of the areas he names as home to many of his patients, and Rembrandt Gardens sits toward the southern end of the Interbay Peninsula. You can review his work in Formation’s before and after gallery.
Results typically last 12 to 18 months. The threads absorb over roughly six to nine months, and the tissue response they leave behind carries part of the lift after that. The effect fades gradually, and many patients choose to repeat the treatment.
The treatment areas are numbed with local anesthesia first. Most people describe the procedure as pressure or tugging rather than pain. Mild tightness along the jaw usually settles within a few days.
Formation is at 1315 South Howard Avenue, about 4.4 miles north of the neighborhood in a straight line. Rembrandt Gardens is car-dependent, so plan the trip as a drive up the Interbay Peninsula.
No. Fullness under the chin is usually fat, and threads don’t remove fat. That’s a layer-one problem, and neck liposuction is the tool for it. Dr. Grandhige will show you at the consultation which layer is driving what you see.
Most people return to normal daily activities within a day or two. Strenuous exercise and facial massage wait two weeks.
PDO threads absorb, so the lift is temporary by design. MyEllevate, a permanent suspension suture, is nonabsorbable and can be removed if needed, and the lift is present the day it’s placed. At Formation it’s used where platysmal bands are part of the problem, together with platysmaplasty.
Yes. The in-office consultation with Dr. Grandhige carries a fee because it’s a full surgical assessment, and the fee can be applied toward any procedure or product at Formation. Patient coordinator Hanna also offers a complimentary virtual evaluation to review your goals and outline a plan before you come in.
Dr. Gopal Grandhige performs the procedure himself, in the office, under local anesthesia. He evaluates each patient personally and designs the plan, so the person who reads your anatomy is the person placing your threads.
A thread lift fits one problem well: early slide in skin that still has some spring. If that’s what you see along your jaw, threads can lift it with a day or two of downtime and a result that typically holds 12 to 18 months. If the issue is fat, bands or a short chin, the consultation will say so. Many patients also pair threads with Botox, a botulinum toxin injection, or injectables to address more than one concern.
From the Lois Avenue and Interbay Boulevard corner of South Tampa, Formation is one drive north. Use the form below to book your consultation with Dr. Grandhige or to request a virtual evaluation with Hanna.
