Are you unhappy with the appearance of your neck? Is loose, sagging skin making you look older than you feel? If you are no longer satisfied with the way your neck looks, there is something that you can do about it – a cosmetic procedure is called a neck lift.
A neck lift, otherwise known as a rhytidectomy, is a surgical procedure that can dramatically improve the telltale signs of aging in the neck and jawline, including:
- Loose, hanging neck skin
- Excess fat in the lower part of the face
- Skin relaxation in the lower face
- Abnormal contours in the neck as a result of aging
You can take excellent care of your skin and body, but eventually time catches up. Even when your face appears young, you can lose youthful contours in the face and neck as a result of aging, weight loss, gravity, heredity, environmental factors (pollution, etc.), and stress.
Often, a patient is not quite ready for a full facelift and they have loose, sagging skin on their neck that can't be corrected by the non-surgical modalities such as lasers, radiofrequency, ultrasound, or injectable treatments. When they are still satisfied by their face, but no longer find their neck visually pleasing, they turn to a neck lift to rejuvenate their appearance and turned back the clock.
Questions to ask yourself when considering a neck lift:
- Does my neck make me uncomfortable?
- Does my neck make me look older?
- Do I have a double chin or jowl lines?
- Do I have a "turkey wattle?"
- Does my neck area match my facial appearance?
Whether or not you have been receiving BOTOX injections or dermal fillers, if your neck area isn't matching up with your facial appearance, you may want to consider a neck lift.
What are the procedure steps?
Depending upon the results you are looking for, your procedure may include a neck lift with a lower facelift, which involves an incision in front and around the ear. When there's excess fat deposits, it's common to sculpt or redistribute the unwanted fat of the neck with liposuction with or without laser such as SlimLipo. Next, the tissue under the neck and lower face and jowls is repositioned and often, the platysma muscle is tightened for a sculpted look. The skin is then redraped and the excess skin is carefully trimmed away.
With the limited incision neck lift, this procedure involves incisions that are only around the ear. The incisions are shorter, however, the results are limited to the neck and do not improve the lower face and jowls.
To finish the procedure, the incisions are closed with sutures. Once healed, the incisions from the neck lift are well concealed by the hair and the natural contours of the ear.
If you are interested in learning more about the neck lift procedure, contact our office to schedule a consult with our Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Yuly Gorodisky!