Chin sling a face-lift alternative?
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HEALTH LIBRARY
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CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- Plastic surgeons may have a new weapon in their battle against sagging necks: the chin sling.
A majority of 100 women who had a plastic lining surgically implanted under the skin of their chins and hooked behind the earlobes said it did wonders for their droopy necks, a problem area for plastic surgeons, Emory University researchers in Atlanta said on Monday.
"There were no requests for sling removal, and 86 (out of 100) patients claimed that they would recommend the procedure to a friend or relative," Wallace Dyer and Arvind Prabhat wrote in The Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, a journal published by the American Medical Association.
An accumulation of fat, lost skin elasticity and stretched muscle lining can cause necks to sag, and the sling can help lift the tissues under the chin, the report said.
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Only one of the women felt discomfort a year after the procedure. The women, who averaged 54 years of age, were having other cosmetic work done when the sling was inserted in procedures done mostly between 1996 and 1998. The women gave their assessment of the sling after a year, but were followed for three years.
An editorial commenting on the report hailed the results.
"While it is often stated that the last frontier in face-lifting is the mid-face, surgeons who critically evaluate their results know that the difficult neck has yet to be consistently conquered," plastic surgeon Keith LaFerriere wrote.
The advantages of the sling over other approaches is that it can be tightened and does not put pressure on a nerve running through the neck.
"Any technique that adds to our ability to obtain aesthetically pleasing and longer-lasting results in the neck is welcomed," LaFerriere added.
Copyright 2003
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
