Sutures - dissolvable vs regular for Lower Facelift?

Question

I'm a 66 year old woman and I was wondering if dissolvable sutures are the same as regular sutures in healing and scarring for a lower facelift.

Stephen Prendiville, MD · Answer

Thank you for your question.  There are basically two main areas where sutures are used in facelifts: SMAS (deeper) and for skin closure.  There are variations on how individual Surgeons do things, but my preference is to use a long lasting (3 months) absorbable sutures for the SMAS layer in deep plane facelifting, and a combination of absorbable and permanent (removable) sutures for skin closure.  Although I do think that it is important for absorbable SMAS sutures to be present for at least 6 weeks, there is no real benefit in using permanent sutures for this purpose.

Vasileios Vasilakis, MD, FACS · Answer

Thank you for the question. Regular sutures are permanent, whereas absorbable sutures disappear after several weeks. Both types of suture are commonly used during facelift. If your surgeon places permanent sutures on your skin, he/she will remove them after approximately 2 weeks. I hope this helps. I wish you the best of luck. Vasileios Vasilakis, MD. Double board-certified, fellowship-trained plastic surgeon, Houston. TX.

William Portuese, MD · Answer

In our practice we've combination of regular stitches and dissolvable on the incisions. We Use permanent stitches to hold the SMAS  and neck muscles together.

Sutures - dissolvable vs regular for Lower Facelift?

Answers (3)

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