Facial lifting with Aptos methods（1）
M. Sulamanidze, G. Sulamanidze
Clinic of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, Total Charm, Tbilisi, Georgia
REVIEW ARTICLE
Journal of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Surgery
Year : 2008 | Volume : 1 | Issue : 1 | Page : 7-11
Abstract
Face lift hitherto had been a complicated and elaborate procedure. The introduction of threads to lift skin has been a major advance in lifting sagging skin. These threads which have barbs on their surface have simplified the procedure and have the possibilities of combination with other rejuvenation procedures. The article traces the evolution of threadlift.
Keywords : Aptos, facelift, threadlift
How to cite this article :
Sulamanidze M, Sulamanidze G. Facial lifting with aptos methods. J Cutan Aesthet Surg 2008;1:7-11
How to cite this URL :
Sulamanidze M, Sulamanidze G. Facial lifting with aptos methods. J Cutan Aesthet Surg [serial online] 2008 [cited 2013 Sep 10];1:7-11. Available from: http://www.jcasonline.com/text.asp?2008/1/1/7/41149
Introduction
Accumulated experience of past years with aggressive and serious invasive surgeries for face lifts, with their resultant complications have lead to research about finding answer to one question: Is it possible to lift soft ptotic tissues in lesser volume as well as less radically, with rather smaller scale invasion? We have been seriously dealing with this problem since 1988 and describe here the evolution of this minimally invasive face lift method.
Early years：Here are the main objectives that we first set to ourselves：
to conduct research for the possibility of shifting various layers of soft facial tissues between each other or entirely, without cuts and surgical mobilization.
to examine possibilities of reducing skin space, its retraction and adaptation without excision.
to develop a new technique of low invasion surgery and manipulation as well as materials and tools for conducting such interventions.
to study the results of such invasion and create new refined methods.
The very first thing that we decided to do was - to uplift the eyebrow tail. For that we have used thick silk, which we have pulled subcutaneously with the regular long needle and in the area of the temporal fascia. But methodology turned out to be unsound due to necessity of making a incision to visualize the temporal fascia, impression on the skin of the needle entry and exit points, presence of only one vectorial direction of tension leading to fast weakening of the bundle, sliding of tissues along threads and as a consequence, short-term results (1-3 months).
However, this preliminary experience provided evidence that layers of soft tissues shifted easily and skin, despite its rugosity, gradually fell out during first days after the surgery.
Another important observation was that short-term and weak effect of lifting was due to the fact that soft tissues were involved in only three points of stitches.
These observations encouraged us towards the idea of creating threads with prominences, which would be able to provide equal, multi-point linkage with subcutaneous tissues on its entire length.
Threads with prominences have been used for a very long-period of time - for suturing sinew（ligament, tendon, muscle）and wound edges; however, doctors of our clinic were the first to introduce threads with prominences for continuous suturing of surgical wounds and proposed them for lifting of flabby, ptotic soft tissues, as well as for rejuvenation surgeries. We called such threads Aptos（anti-ptosis）[1] . The first threads with incisions（Aptos Suture）for suturing operational and traumatic wounds with continuous stitches were introduced in 1998 [Figure 1].
Later the same name was adopted to all products and technologies of non-invasive lifting, which were developed and introduced by us into practice.
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