Do you have a pronounced, sagging neck “waddle” or prominent vertical bands in the neck that have become a source of self-consciousness for you? If so, you are a good candidate for neck contouring surgery. Depending on the severity of your aging neck, simple neck liposuction or submentoplasty may suffice to generate your desired improvement. Severely aged necks usually require both liposuction and a neck lift for deep neck muscle tightening.
Neck Lift Restores Youthful Appearance
The onset and severity of aesthetic aging neck issues vary greatly by patient. You may be genetically predisposed to early aging in your neck and thus seek a neck lift with liposuction prior to ever considering a facelift.
Or, you may be ready for a facelift, but your neck skin is still relatively firm and elastic, requiring just a little neck liposuction or submentoplasty without the need for a more invasive muscle-tightening lift.
No matter what degree of neck rejuvenation is necessary, it improves your youthful look immensely. Neck wrinkles and creases are smoothed and diminished. The area under your chin is redefined and lifted to highlight a smooth jawline.
To get a sense of the amount of lifting and neck sag correction you can expect with neck lift surgery, check out the facelift before and after photos where many of those patients have also received the benefits of a neck lift with their facelift procedure. Also, explore the chin/neck before and after photos where you see examples of how neck lift surgery can sometimes be combined with neck liposuction or chin augmentation to create even better results.
What Should I Do Before Neck Lift Surgery?
A neck lift is performed when neck liposuction alone is not enough to achieve desired results.
- For most neck lifts, incisions are carefully placed in natural skin creases behind your ears and within your hairline to disguise and minimize residual scars.
- Dr. Macdonald removes fat using liposuction techniques through an incision under the chin. He tightens underlying muscles with permanent sutures and removes excess skin as needed.
- Neck lift surgery alone takes 2 hours. Combined with a facelift, surgery is about 4-5 hours.
Neck Lift is Often Combined With…
To achieve comprehensive rejuvenation, a neck lift or neck liposuction is paired with facelift surgery 80% of the time. Neck liposuction or lift is also frequently complemented with brow lifts and eyelid surgery to address the effects of aging in your upper face.
Healing After Neck Lift Surgery
- Immediately following surgery, Dr. Macdonald applies a light pressure dressing or chinstrap to be removed at your first follow-up in 5-7 days.
- Post-surgical pain and discomfort is minimal. Prescription pain medication is rarely requested.
- Swelling and bruising is normal within the first 5-7 days post-op.
- Any non-dissolvable sutures are removed at 5-7 days post-op.
- At 5-7 days post-op, you should look and feel well enough to return to work or other usual daily activities. You may want to use makeup concealers to disguise any faint residual bruising and scars.
- You may experience numbness in parts of your neck for weeks to months until your body has healed at 3-6 months.
Follow post-surgery guidelines to optimize your healing and recovery after neck lift surgery.