Silhouette Soft® is a revolutionary technology for minimally-invasive face and neck rejuvenation, that bridges the gap between conventional non-surgical and surgical anti-ageing procedures.
In a procedure we like to call the scarless facelift, Silhouette Soft® sutures are used to gently lift and restore contour to key areas of the face, inserted via needle entry points only, without the need for any surgical incision. Sutures are fine threads used in surgical stitches. Silhouette Soft® sutures contain small, specially designed cones which serve to anchor into the facial tissue, allowing gentle lifting and re-contouring of areas of facial ageing.
The sutures are made from polylactic acid, and therefore completely absorbed by the body within 12-18 months of insertion. Only local anaesthetic injections or topical anaesthetic cream is required to carry out this procedure, and it will only take up 30-45 minutes of your time allowing you to return to the important things you need to get on with (although we do advise you to take the rest of the day off if you can !).
Silhouette Soft® sutures have the dual action of physically lifting sagging areas of skin, but they also have a regeneradtive and biostimulant effect where the polylactic acid sutures stimulate the production of new collagen, improving intrinsic tone, elasticity and texture of the skin over the several months until the sutures are completely absorbed.
While it may be relatively straightforward to revolumise and reshape different parts of the face using dermal filler, remove wrinkles and fine lines in the upper face with botulinum toxin (Botox®), it is a different proposition to lift and restore tone to sunken and sagging areas of the face as a result of the ageing process. In the past, where sagging was significant, the only credible option was a full surgical facelift. Nowadays, several non-surgical options exist to address areas of mild-moderate facial sagging, of which Silhouette Soft® suture resuspension is we believe the most promising.
A prime example is the mid-face (cheeks and under-eye areas), where ageing typically involves two structural processes: volume loss & downward sinking of the volume that remains. While dermal filler can restore volume, the rejuvenation process is usually incomplete as long as the sagging remains. In some cases, adding dermal filler to areas of significant sagging can exacerbate the problem. Using Silhouette Soft® to re-suspend these areas of facial sag can address this problem very effectively.
Indeed, in many patients a combination approach involving filler volumisation and suture resuspension of the face will prove to be the ideal anti-ageing strategy for the mid-face, since this addresses both of the key age-related problems. Silhouette Soft® sutures can also be used to restore youthful jaw contour, and in very select cases for neck rejuvenation and non-surgical eyebrow lifting.
So deciding to have a Silhouette Soft® procedure would be part of a carefully thought out rejuvenation strategy. This requires good judgment and vision on the part of your aesthetic doctor or surgeon.
We believe Silhouette Soft® sutures offer a superior anti-ageing option compared to other “contour sutures” which have been available for years, because a) the polylactic acid material is completely absorbable, minimising long-term risk to the patient, b) the polylactic acid material has a beneficial effect on skin quality via collagen stimulation, and c) the sutures contain small cones which serve to grip and anchor the facial tissues, thereby achieving a more effective lifting effect.
The anti-ageing effect of this procedure should last between 12-18 months for first time patients (as with any procedure, patient responses may vary).
First and foremost a thorough consultation will take place where, as well as questions about your general medical health, your ideas and aesthetic objectives will be explored and defined, so that you and the doctor can together ascertain whether this is the right anti-ageing treatment for you.
This is of key importance because the success of a Silhouette Soft® non-surgical facelift is partly dependent on the skill of the doctor performing the treatment and partly dependent on the suitability of the patient.
Before performing the procedure your facial skin will be prepped and disinfected. Your aesthetic doctor or surgeon may then choose to mark the needle entry points on your face using a sterile pencil marker. Local anaesthetic will be injected into the needle-entry points, and/or local anaesthetic cream will be applied over the facial area being treated, to make the procedure as comfortable and pain-free as possible. The sutures will then be inserted under the skin after which your doctor will apply remodelling techniques to lift and re-contour the area concerned. The same is repeated for the other side of the face.
The entire procedure is usually completed within 45 minutes.
The Silhouette Soft® procedure is part of our Face Couture™ series of bespoke facial anti-ageing treatment strategies. The first step is a comprehensive one-hour Face Couture® consultation (£150).
This involves a full medical consultation (history), facial aesthetic assessment, identification of all your aesthetic concerns and objectives and how they may relate and link to each other, so that the most efficient and effective treatment strategy can be determined.
For more information or to book a consultation call +44 (0) 203 973 8801 or email us at [email protected], we would be glad to assist you.
