Many people ignore the look of their neck; yet, the neck is one of the first locations where indications of ageing occur. Furthermore, UV exposure or excessive weight loss may cause the skin of a person’s neck to seem loose, drooping, and aged.
While we go to great lengths to maintain or enhance the look of our face skin, it is as crucial to care for our neck skin. If your neck skin looks like it has lost its natural elasticity and sags, or if you want to remove extra skin or fat, there are many fantastic options available, including neck lift surgery.
Neck lift surgery should only be performed by a trained plastic surgeon. They can help you obtain a smooth, thin, youthful-looking neck. Before considering if neck lift surgery is best for you, make sure you have all of the information to help you make a sound decision.
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What Is A Neck Lift?
A neck lift, also known as platysmaplasty, improves the appearance of the jawline and generates a smaller, smoother-looking neck. This surgical technique lifts and smoothes drooping skin, eliminates extra fat, and tightens the platysma muscle, removing double chins, horizontal banding, wrinkles, and turkey neck to give your whole neck and jawline a more youthful look.
This surgical neck rejuvenation process is significantly more successful than non-surgical neck treatments, which often take numerous sessions and have far more transient benefits. Neck lift candidates have extra fat and skin but generally decent skin tone.
A neck lift technique may provide impressive effects on its own, but it is often combined with a facelift, brow lift, chin implant, or other facial cosmetic surgery procedures to get the best possible outcome. Facelift is a procedure that focuses more on lifting face areas.
Reasons For Choosing To Have A Neck Lift
As we age, our skin loses elasticity and starts to droop due to gravity’s pull. The sun also contributes to skin aging, particularly in places like the neck, which are often exposed more than other parts of the body. A turkey neck is an excess skin beneath the chin that extends below the jawline.
Some procedures, for example, neck lift can be used to tighten our neck skin and help us look younger. As stated earlier, women often note that the first indications of aging emerge around the neck.
If you believe your neck has aged badly and you need to disguise it with scarves or high collars, a neck lift may be the surgery for you.
What Happens During Neck Lift Surgery?
The surgery is often completed as an outpatient process under either local anesthetic with IV sedation or general anesthesia, with many patients opting for general. It often takes one to two hours, depending on the scope of the problem.
Because not all surgeons define a neck lift in the same manner, it’s important to discuss your surgeon’s method at your first appointment. Excess fat, loose platysma muscles, and drooping neck skin are three major concerns addressed by the surgery.
Liposuction Or Manual Fat Removal
A surgeon may employ either liposuction or manual fat removal to remove extra fat that causes a double chin or jowls. Liposuction removes fat exclusively above the platysma muscle using tiny incisions—one in the chin and one behind each ear.
Many patients have fat on both sides of the platysma muscle. The fat underneath the muscle is coated in fibrous tissue and must be removed surgically. The surgeon removes the fat by utilizing direct vision, which enables the safe removal of bigger quantities of excess fat than liposuction alone. The platysma muscle will be next addressed to further enhance the jawline.
A Platysmaplasty
A platysmaplasty is a condition in which the platysma muscle splits with age, resulting in two wide, thin bands on each side of the neck. As the muscle ages, it pushes and strains against the skin, forming ropey vertical bands and softening a previously pointed jawline.
The turkey neck is also often caused by Platysma muscle cords. To treat the bands, a surgeon would often do a platysmaplasty, which involves stitching the two sides of the platysma muscle in the front of the neck and beneath the chin together like a corset and then connecting it more securely to other neck muscles. They may also remove a portion of the platysma to tighten it more.
A Cervicoplasty
A cervicoplasty is used to treat loose skin caused by aging or weight reduction. A cervicoplasty removes extra skin and tightens the remaining skin, reducing wrinkles and contouring the region. After that, wounds are closed with small sutures or surgical adhesive.
Recovery
Patients who get a neck lift can expect to be out of work for one to two weeks. Patients should plan for a companion or family member to be with them for the first twenty-four hours following surgery since moving will be complex.
The first several days will be spent mostly in bed, with prescription pain medication administered to alleviate any pain or discomfort. Pulling clothes over the head may interfere with recovery, so patients should have a supply of comfortable, loose-fitting shirts or blouses that button up the front.
Even after returning to work, patients must avoid vigorous activity for a few weeks, such as heavy lifting or sports. Neck lift surgery, like any surgical operation, has the risk of infection and bleeding.
Bruising and swelling are unavoidable, particularly in the first few days following surgery. Patients should be aware of any indicators that healing is not doing well, such as pus at the incision sites, and should notify their surgeons promptly if any problems arise.
It may get several weeks to months for swelling and redness to go away, and it may take up to six months for your incision lines to vanish. Protect your skin from the sun, avoid wearing anything that requires you to pull over your head, and be patient with your surgical wounds.
