What is IGuide? How Does It Do a Necklift?

I have done around 6 of these and was the first plastic surgeon (and currently only) to do them in the Houston area.  I think it is a great "first" procedure for many patients that may have early signs of aging and may not be ready for a full face/neck lift.  It is also something I can perform in the office with only mild sedation and local anesthesia.  It takes about an hour.  It involves neck liposuction and the placement of a suture that is woven similar to a "shoe lace" under the neck on top of the muscle and under the skin using a lighted fiberoptic guide that assists in the placement of the suture. My early experience is very optimistic.  Patients are really happy and they get back to work within a day or two with much less bruising than traditional open techniques.  I have had some patients that technically needed more than this (i.e. they needed the full face / neck lift ) but they did not want to go through the recovery and could not be off work that long.  Even in those patients they all are happy and I think it can deliver more than simple neck liposuction, however, it is no replacement for a full face and neck lift. The average cost (nationally) varied from around $4500-$7500 depending on what part of the country. I hope this helps!

Sincerely,

James F. Boynton, M.D., F.A.C.S.

I believe the I Guide system is some form of thread lift procedure for the neck.  I sincerely doubt it provides superior results to currently available techniques.  I agree with other posters that this may work for very early changes, but is likely to provide underwhelming results in circumstances of more significant cervical obliquity. The more significant the changes present, the more significant the procedure required.

I recently performed the first of these in the Midwest and it is essentially a variation on a neck lift. The early experience limits me from providing any  long term insight. To summarize: it is essentialy a neck liposuction proceure that then involves lacing a permanent suture (thread) back and forth under the chin to maintain the results. It uses a lighted fiberoptic guide to place the suture. Hence, the name Iguide.

I started performing iGuide procedures 18 months ago when it was introduced into the UK. I have had some great results and some average results. The average results were the first few that I did but now my results are getting increasingly better. I think, therefore, there is a learning curve of a few cases with the procedure. I have now been able to follow up some of my patients for 18 months, and the results keep improving with time, rather than get worse. I have seen the inventor's longer term results (3 years) and they too look good at that time. I think the doctors who say they don't believe it will work are the ones who haven't actually used it, which is a strange thing to say.

The Technqiue you mentioned uses a thread passed across the neck to lift. I would not recommend this for along term satisfaction.