A consultation with Doctor Diacakis, a plastic surgeon in Paris, is necessary before a tensor wire operation and it is after having received all the information that the decision to lay notched wires or tensor wires, absorbable or not, is taken by mutual agreement between the surgeon and the patient.

The association with liposuction of the neck and/or lower face will also be discussed as it is often necessary, often allowing the result to be perfected. 

Old photographs can even be brought in to precisely target the “points” that you are lacking.

The operation of a resorbable (non-permanent) tensor wire installation usually requires local anaesthesia, either in the surgery or in the operating theatre on an outpatient basis. It is not a painful operation. 

Doctor Richard Diacakis, a plastic surgeon in Paris, uses tensor threads similar to surgical sutures, therefore known and biocompatible. The resorbable tensor threads are composed of a mixture of glycolic acid and polylactic acid, which is resorbed in 12 to 18 months. They can be renewed without limit. They reassure those who can’t stand the idea of a permanent thread. But it is important to know that even if the effect of resorbable tensor threads lasts less time than permanent threads, the result continues to last after the thread has been resorbed. Thus the duration of the thread resorption and the duration of the result are two distinct elements because the suspension obtained by a resorbable thread lasts longer, by fibrosis (“like a glue”), than the thread resorption time. 

With the patient in a seated position, Dr Diacakis, a plastic surgeon in Paris, will draw on the skin the line of the threads which will best correct the sagging of the face (raising of the eyebrows, jowls, cheekbones and neck). 

The patient is then placed in a lying position. The surgeon introduces a hollow guide with a foam tip, according to the drawings, which will leave no scar. Absorbable or permanent tensor threads are inserted inside this guide. The guide is then removed, leaving the notched wire in the desired position and direction. A very slight traction is applied to the threads so that once the patient is back in an upright position, the volumes of the face will be those of the recumbent position. 

The resorbable or permanent tensor threads will carry away the fatty mattress of the face, which is located between the skin and the muscles, through a mesh, thus repositioning the sagging facial volumes, without skin resection and therefore without scarring.  

The installation of tensor threads can cause pain, rather like tension, which is sometimes felt during the first few days. 

A prescription can be issued including painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs.

Depending on the number of stitches applied and the reaction of each stitch, swelling and possibly bruising can last from 2 to 15 days. A few precautions must be taken during the first two weeks in order not to alter the quality of the result, such as washing your face delicately or not practising a sauna, UV cabin, too intensive sports sessions…  

The undeniable theoretical advantage of this mini-invasive technique is that it allows a better response to the current demand of patients who wish to re-tension slackened tissues with a natural result, without surgery or general anaesthesia and in most cases with a short social eviction. Unlike injections of fillers, this technique repositions the volumes without adding more. When the selection of candidates is well done, the results are satisfactory to very satisfactory. 

→ The result is visible at one month and definitive at 3 months..