During facial aging, a series of physical and biochemical changes leading to tissue hypotrophy, sagginess, and wrinkles takes place not only at the level of the skin, but also at the level of fatty tissue, muscle, and so on. One of these changes is a decrease in the volume and elasticity of the tissue due to an alteration in collagen fiber formation.

The intermittent use of Silhouette Sutures is meant to prevent and treat tissue sagginess and reinforce the soft tissue of the face. The physical and chemical configuration of Silhouette Sutures will allow facial tissue repositioning by exerting traction on the soft tissue of the face, while, at the same time, new collagen fibers form around its structure.

The initial traction is produced by the presence of the slowly absorbing cones, which will be reinforced by the buildup of new collagen formation. After one year, the traction will be maintained by the collagen around and inside of a series of knots intercalated between the cones.

These sutures can be readjusted in the future (one and a half to two years after treatment) by pulling them from the temporal area, where all of them meet. Further sutures could be added at that time to reinforce the existing ones or to treat different areas.

SUTURE DESCRIPTION

1. 1. Straight needle, six inches in length, allowing insertion of the suture into the soft tissue

2. 2. Main suture

1. a. The suture is a monofilament, nonabsorbable 3.0 polypropylene suture, 25 cm in length.

2. b. The distal 10 cm of the sutures contains 11 knots, at approximately 10-mm intervals; each knot is intercalated with absorbable cones.

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