I do not do it.

Silicone-coated, barbed, flexible suspension material.

Commercial nomenclature for medical processes has always struck me as distasteful. It feels like trying to catch up with the underdevelopment complex of the Turkish bourgeoisie.

I once asked a colleague who was the former president of the French society of aesthetic and plastic surgery.

French thread or French lift?

“It's very popular in Turkey. How about in France?” I asked.

"I didn't know we had such a national technique," he answered.

My dear friend was apparently Greek to the matter.

Just run a Google search.

Type in ‘French thread’ or ‘French lift’.

8 out of 10 pages belong to Turks.

There is a procedure called French lift. Its inventor is French, but the procedure is essentially a mini face lift.

So again, it's not about pulling the face with silicone-coated, cog threads.

The real name of the material, which is marketed as the French lift thread in Turkey, is “spring thread”.

Yes, the manufacturer is French.

The advantage of the material over other lift materials is that it is flexible.

However, this silicone-coated material is not absorbable and thus remains in the tissue.

Therefore, these suspension cables are classified as ‘implants’, that is, prostheses.

All essential problems with silicone prostheses are also valid for these implants, albeit to a lesser extent.

Once these cables are placed superficially under the skin and as long as they maintain a certain tension, they feel like ‘strips’ under the skin.

Their effects are not permanent even in the medium term (1 year).

They can cause sever superficial deformities if they become infected or if pathological capsules form around them.

They can never offer the same effect, permanence, integrity or coverage as a facelift surgery.

Even the best results that can be achieved with this technique lag behind a subpar mini facelift performance.

Thus, most plastic surgeons combine a spring thread lift procedure (aka the French lift) with a microlift or facial filler. They slightly reduce the skin or add volume.

When you combine weakly-effective processes, it is possible to attain a more pronounced effect.

However, you need to mobilize huge resources for a procedure that has a weak cumulative effect and can only offer an effect that can survive a couple of months.

Choosing the second best option has never been my approach, probably owing to the academic surgical school I was trained in. That is why I could never take a kind approach to facial rejuvenation procedures involving suspension (no matter how cool the name).

I am not suggesting that these processes are totally useless. Those who perform them must have a point. However, it is crucial for patients to undergo medical procedures with realistic expectations.

• It turns out the effect doesn't last for 4 or 5 years.
• It turns out the threads are not absorbable.
• Oh, they said there was no risk involved.
• I didn't know that it could adversely affect my future facelift surgery.
• I didn't know that I could feel it like a barbed wire under my skin.
•  But that famous singer had also had it done.

Better not be compelled to say these.

Spring thread and all other suspension procedures can be performed:

• if the patient has a condition that prevents facelift surgery,
• if the patient does not have high expectations,
• if the patient understands that these procedures may also cause complications,
• in the hands of experienced physicians who have knowledge of other options and are competent to treat complications,
• preferably in combination with other minimally-invasive procedures (minilift, resurfacing, fillers) for a more holistic effect.

I do not intend to be a fanatic of plastic surgery, but when a physician who can perform a facelift recommends suspension, it is not the same as when a physician who cannot perform a facelift recommends suspension. Although spring thread is touted as a practice of ‘non-surgical facial rejuvenation’, it is actually a mini surgery performed under local anesthesia and in which permanent silicone cable prostheses are placed under the facial skin. Placing these prostheses may not require great surgical skill or experience but removing them from the tissue is not as simple as initially placing them.

“Prospective patients who think ‘I will have a suspension procedure today and facelift surgery in the future’ must be aware that a suspension procedure performed today may adversely affect future facelift surgery and limit the choice of technique.”

Please feel free to contact us to get information about the advantages and limitations of minimally invasive options in facial rejuvenation.

Take good care...

... of yourself and your beauty.

OB