What are the best sutures to use for a mini face/neck lift?

 Thank you for your question.   More important that the type of suture or method use to close the skin is the fact the  skin be close with no tension and the handling of the tissues.  The best advise I can give you is to  consult with a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon and also somebody that has many cases of experience  in that procedure

I agree with the other responses. It will depend on your surgeon and their experience. Deep sutures that last for a long time or are permanent are used under the skin to support the tissues. Skin sutures should be non-dissolving and have minimal tissue reaction. I avoid dissolving sutures in the skin as a tissue reaction is required to dissolve the stitch. This will lead to more visible scars. Within the hair staples are sometimes used. Like non-dissolving sutures they cause minimal tissue reaction. 
In general I would caution patients about mini-face lifts with incisions around the ears. The results rarely last more than a year, the scarring is often very poor, and I regularly see patients who are unhappy with this procedure. 
If you are looking for a 'mini-face lift' and your are a candidate a mini-neck left with an isolated incision under the chin can produce excellent long term results. 

Best regards, 

Alexander Anzarut 

Thanks for asking a good question.  However, I will say that it is more important to choose a board certified experienced surgeon versus type of suture. In my experience of several thousand facelifts, I use prolene suture in front which has a very low reactivity and easy to remove.  Behind the ear and hariline, I use chromic sutures which dissolve.  They stay in behind the ear and hairline and are gone when they are ready to be gone.  I use some permanent mersilene sutures when it comes to muscle tightening. Every surgeon will have varying sutures based on personal experience.  Best of luck!

Quite simply, the best sutures to use for these procedures are the ones that your chosen surgeon recommends.  Excellent surgeons can use different suture materials to achieve excellent results.  There are no problems using staples in selected areas as recommended by your surgeon.  Personally, I like interlocking Prolene sutures for my minimal incision suture platysmaplasty.  Good luck!

We do this frequently in our office and call it a cobra lift, we do skin removal, muscle tightening (platysmaplasty), VASER and J Plasma all to contour the chin/neck in one treatment. Best, Dr. Emer.

Dear lesliegdesign,There is an elastic suture called Prolene which can expand with your swelling to reduce pressure on the wound, and I use this for the skin closureUnder the skin, I prefer to use a longer lasting absorbable suture, PDS, to lift the muscles and keep them in position while you healStaples can be placed if the incision is carried into the hair, they do not leave marks, and are easier to remove than sutures.  Sutures can look like hair, so it can be tricky finding them.  This is more a discussion to have with your chosen plastic surgeonI hope this helpsBest regards,Dr. Nima

Most surgeons would use combination of sutures for closure of skin incisions after face lift; that may be very individual choice. In our practice we use nylon sutures for closure of pre-auricular (anterior) incision, which are removed after 8-10 days. Behind the ear we use fast absorbing gut sutures which do not need to be removed. Both of these leave fine scars. However, individual response to surgery trauma and healing of scar has significant effect on final scar appearance regardless of the sutures used. Hope this will help.

  The goal of a lower face and neck lift is to tighten loose facial and neck muscles, tighten loose facial /neck skin, lift the jowls, and remove any fatty deposits in the neck in addition to a platysma-plasty.  The SMAS is also tightened as well.  In our practice, we tighten the SMAS and facial and neck muscles with permanent nylon sutures.  The skin itself is closed with small nylon sutures and dissolvable sutures behind the ears.  In our practice, we remove most of the sutures at day 4 after the procedure to best avoid scar tracking.

Thank you for the question. Deep sutures are often used behind the ear to approximate the tissues and then staples are used for skin edge closure behind the ear and often in the temples because they prevent damage to hair follicles.

 Hi, I have performed many SMAS facelifts and neck lifts for over 30 years and have performed many minimally, invasive SMAS facelifts.  Non smiling, resting photos of your face from the front and side would help in the evaluation.  The reality is, there are many different ways to perform a facelift from incision length, incision placement, level of tissue dissection (skin only, SMAS, Deep Plane, Subperiosteal), different degrees of tissue undermining, how to lift and support (imbrication versus plication of the SMAS layer), how much excess skin to trim, is excess fat going to be reduced and finally will the overall shape of the face be made more feminine or masculine (while avoiding the over pulled, windswept appearance).  There also is quite a difference in how and what type of sutures are used to close the incisions.  While staples allow a faster closure method, in my opinion they would yield the least desirable scar for skin closure.  Price is determined by the reputation, location and experience of the Facelift Surgeon.
 In my humble opinion however, there are some basic requirements that must be met in order for a facelift to be "effective", yielding "aesthetic pleasing" and "naturally attractive" results.  These include: 
 1. Some type of incision either curved around the front (preferred) or straight in front of the ear.  This is how excess skin is removed which is not possible with an incision behind the ear alone.  If you have so little excess skin on the face that "none" needs to be removed you are not a candidate for a facelift in the first place.
2. The facelift must address correction and softening of the "jowls" using a long lasting and effective technique.  If you have "jowls” these are sagging facial tissues and the main indication for some form of a SMAS facelift.  The underlying SMAS layer, of the face, must be dissected, lifted, trimmed and re-sutured (not merely folded or suspended with threads or sutures that will not last).  The excess skin is then removed and the facelift incisions closed.
3. Facial shaping must be combined to properly shape the cheeks, chin, jaw line and lips for feminizing or masculinizing the face as the case may be.
  If you have "jowls” these are sagging facial tissues and the main indication for some form of a SMAS facelift.  The underlying SMAS layer, of the face, must be dissected, lifted, trimmed and re-sutured (not merely folded or suspended with threads or sutures that will not last).  The excess skin is then removed and the facelift incisions closed.
 My most popular SMAS facelift is the minimally invasive, short incision SMAS facelift that has all the benefits of more invasive facelifts (traditional, mid-face, deep plane, cheek lift and subperiosteal facelifts) but with these added benefits:
very small incisions and no incisions extend or are placed within the hair.
minimal tissue dissection = less bruising and swelling = rapid recovery ( several days instead of weeks or months with the more invasive type facelifts mentioned)
can be performed in 90 minutes or less, with or without general anesthesia
proper SMAS Imbrication technique
no incisions within the hair = no hair loss
excess fat can be removed from the face and neck
excess skin removed from the face and neck
cheeks, chin and jaw line can be augmented with dermal fillers (I prefer Restylane Lyft) or facial implants
most patients fly back home to parts all over the world in as little as 3 days post-op
 I combine facial shaping with every facelift procedure.  When jowls are present, these should be done in concert and not alone or separately in order to create a naturally, more attractive face. Following my beauty principles, women look the most feminine, youthful and attractive with heart shaped faces.  Heart shaped faces have cheeks that are full and round in the front.  When the cheeks have front portions that are flat or concave in the front, cheek augmentation with a dermal filler or using cheek implants for a permanent enhancement will create full, round cheeks that will feminize the entire face.  In my experience, this is the "key" factor in making the face soft, feminine and naturally beautiful.  An essential part of any facelift on a woman.  Conversely, men look chiseled and handsome when angularity is created in the cheeks, chin and mandibular angles.  The ability to provide precise, facial shaping separately or in combination with a facelift is in my humble opinion the definition of a "facial shaping expert".
 If the chin is weak, this creates an imbalance making the nose appear larger, the mid face top heavy and the lower face look short that de-emphasizes the lips and allows early formation of a double chin.  Chin augmentation using a chin implant will add projection to the chin creating harmony and balance to the lower face.  I have found placement of a silastic chin implant, through a small curved incision under the chin (also allows excess skin removal) to be very safe, quick and highly effective.
Hope this helps.