6/22/07

Renato Calabria, MD, a plastic surgeon who practices in Beverly Hills, Calif, has developed the One Stich Facelift.

“The concept for this procedure was originally inspired by an old Hollywood beauty trick in which actresses used tape to pull loose skin upward for a smoother, younger look,” says Calabria. “My One Stitch Facelift is taking that original beauty trick to create a more permanent result.”

According to Calabria, what makes the One Stitch Facelift so unique is that it does not use any external synthetic threads to hold the tissue in place. During the 1-hour procedure, Calabria makes a small incision in the temporal area. The loose skin is de-epithelialized, tunneled, and tightened and then overlapped onto the fat layer, which is then anchored securely under the hairline. Because the overlapped dermis and fat are stitched together underneath the external tissue, they provide a much stronger anchor for the face and hold all the tension without fail. The original incision is then closed leaving only one stitch externally, which heals in 1 or 2 weeks.

The facelift is performed under local anesthesia with no downtime. Calabria says that swelling is minimal and patients can return to work the next day.

[The Professional Image, June 21, 2007]