Ribbon Lift: Another face lift wannabe?

I posted on the Silhoutte Sutures. Now for the Ribbon Lift, another attempt to create a more effective featherlift.

Ribbon Lift just had a story plug on one of the entertainment tonight shows. The ribbon looked as though you'd be able to feel it quite well while it was under the skin. I can't imagine patients (or their husbands) liking that too much. That it's bioabsorabable makes me wonder about the long term results. 3-5 years as a claim seems suspect. Any thoughts or questions are welcome in the comments.

From an ABC story on the Ribbon Lift.

Dr. Gregory Keller has been doing the ribbon lift for about two years now. He starts with an incision right behind the ear.

"We pull the muscle back and then the skin scars back down to the muscle and it's held in place there while it dissolves for about two to three months," Dr. Keller said.

The endotine ribbon device is fashioned with several hooks along its length. It grabs on to the muscle and allows the surgeon to pull up the loose skin.

Pamela is getting four ribbons put in. Dr. Keller says patients usually recover within a week although many have returned to work a lot sooner. He say the procedure has very few side effects that could include bruising. And the results can last anywhere from three to five years.

To eliminate sagging skin on face, a new procedure called “Ribbon Lift” . The procedure is safe alternative to the current face lift procedures being offered.

Review of Ribbon Lift face lift procedure
a. The Ribbon lift procedure involves making an incision behind the ear and placing a a bioabsorbable ENDOTINE Ribbon™ to hold the muscle back and allow the surgeon to tighten loose skin.
b. The bioabsorabable ribbon which has hooks is dissolved in a period of 2-3 months.
c. The recovery time is maximum a week.
d. It has few side effects like bruising etc.
e. Results last from 3-5 years.

Silhoutte Sutures: Threadlifts with bells and whistles.

More competition for the Threadlift, Aptos Threads, and the rest of the tricky non-surgical suture suspension lifts.

 
From the KMI Silhouette site: "SILHOUETTE MID FACE SUTURES ARE FDA 510(k) cleared for market" , not an extravagant claim for a suture made from 3-0 polypropylene.

Compared to the conventional barbed suture, the unique patent pending design of Silhouette MID-FACE Suture allows for tissue growth inside and around flexible, absorbable hollow cones, therefore creating a much stronger anchoring mechanism.

The Silhouette MID-FACE Suture is different than barbed sutures. Barbed suture is created when cuts are made in the shaft of conventional sutures, weakening the inherent strength of the thread. Silhouette MID-FACE Sutures utilize clear, flexible, absorbable cones. Once the cones are completely absorbed, tissue growth around the small knots will allow for tissue suspension.

This groundbreaking Silhouette MID-FACE Suture, designed by KMI, is manufactured using a 3-0 polypropylene substrate. This allows for smaller knot tying in the temporal area. Furthermore, these sutures can safely be removed after the cones are completely absorbed.

Via plasticized:

The thread lift, suture lift, feather lift, contour threads- they're all based on the same concept. Small incisions are made, barbed sutures are passed through the area area to be lifted, and tension is placed to move the tissue in desired direction. The reviews and anecdotal reports from surgeons are less than stellar in most cases. Its been adopted mainly by "non-surgeons" to offer facial rejuvination to pre-existing laser and botox patients. The newest technology in the chain of threads is called the Silhouette suture. It uses a "cup and ball" design rather than a barb. Will it be an improvement over previous designs? Judge for yourself, here.

First, this has got to be one of the worst web sites I've ever seen. The execution of this site alone is enough to make me question if this is a real company or two 14 year old myspace kids who want to break into the medical field. Not to mention that there are entire sections with the dreaded 'coming soon' banner. It does not breed confidence.

Surface performed Aptos and Threadlifts years ago when they first came out. We stopped for three reasons: One; threadlifts don't work well enough. The effects are so minor, even in cases with good results, that it wasn't a great alternative in our opinion. Second; There were enough complications that our docs became un-enchanted. Third: We developed Point Lift .

In my own humble opinion, threadlifts by themselves are just not effective enough given the hit-and-miss problems with patient satisfaction and complications. 

Any comments from physicians with differing points of view are welcomed.