Surgeons here have begun using a new, less invasive form of cosmetic plastic surgery, called a Contour ThreadLift, on eligible patients, mostly women, who are seeking a more youthful appearance.


The procedure was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration less than eight months ago, says Dr. Carol Hathaway, a Spokane Valley plastic surgeon. It is designed to lift sagging eyebrows subtly, reposition sagging cheeks, lift soft tissues of the mid and lower face, and stop premature skin aging. In the process, needles are guided just under the skin and used to thread and cinch up special sutures that have barbs just less than one inch apart along their length.


The barbed sutures, called contour threads, have been available here for only about two months, says Chris Meston, Hathaways aesthetician.


The results of a Contour ThreadLift are far less dramatic than with conventional, more invasive cosmetic plastic surgery, says Dr. Kai Morimoto, a plastic surgeon with Rockwood Clinic PS, of Spokane.


She says people with large jowls or heavy wrinkling in the face arent good candidates for the less-invasive procedure.


Says Meston, Contour ThreadLifts are just for certain people. They will never replace plastic surgery.


Unlike invasive cosmetic plastic surgery, which normally involves making incisions and removing excess skin and sometimes fat, in a typical Contour ThreadLift procedure, a surgeon numbs the patient with a local anesthetic and, while the patient is awake, guides needles ranging up to seven inches in length through the scalp and down to the patients cheeks or neck, or to the forehead, depending on the area that the surgeon is treating, says Morimoto. The needles pull barbed sutures into place in the dermis, the layer of the skin thats just under the epidermis, or outer layer, and the thread is then drawn tight and tied in place.


The tissue develops around the sutures, or little cogs, and thats how you get the lift, Morimoto says.


The goal is to tighten the skin and project a more youthful appearance.


Depending on the cosmetic requirements of the patient, anywhere from one barbed thread to eight can be guided through each cheek in a cheek procedure, says Meston. Morimoto says cosmetic-brow Contour ThreadLifts can require two barbed threads on each side of the face.


Although the magnitude of follow-up swelling and bruising after the procedure is done is similar to that following invasive surgery, the cost of Contour Threadlifts is far less. A typical contour thread cheek lift, for instance, costs between $1,700 and $2,000, while a typical minimal access cranial suspension (MACS) facelift costs about $7,000, says Meston. The more invasive surgery costs more because of the anesthetics and additional operating-room staff required, she says.


Although some Contour ThreadLift procedures can be performed in one hour, Meston says a five-suture procedure on each cheek can take as long as three hours.


Morimoto says cosmetic surgery performed to improve appearance, is definitely not covered by insurance, while reconstructive plastic surgery, often done to replace skin tissue lost to trauma or cancer, is covered under some insurance policies.


Following major Contour ThreadLift procedures, depending on the number of threads that are used, patients often miss one to two weeks of work and experience some swelling and bruising for up to three weeks, Meston says. Though theres no acute pain, there is some soreness because of the trauma to the skin, yet no bandages are required, she says.


Morimoto encourages her patients not to smile, make exaggerated facial motions, or suck through a straw for a couple weeks after a contour-lift procedure. She recommends that her patients stay indoors for a few days after the procedure.


Hathaways practice also recommends icing the affected area, not sleeping flat for the first three or four days, using topical ointments for bruising, and using pain medication, says Meston.


How long a Contour ThreadLift will last is up to debate because of the procedures short track record. Yet, Morimoto says subsequent procedures to either undo a contour lift or to do another contour lift at a future date can be done with little hardship to the patient.


Hathaway now works almost exclusively with cosmetic patients, many of them breast, abdomen, or MACS facelift patients.


Morimoto works for Rockwood in leased space at Sacred Heart Medical Center, and says about 10 percent of her practice is with cosmetic patients.