Neck Lift (Platysmaplasty)

Neck lift surgery can be a powerful tool in correcting the signs of ageing and achieving a well-contoured neck.

Understanding the Neck Lift Procedure

The two most common approaches to correcting the neck involve either liposuction or neck lift surgery. Your surgeon will help you decide on the best option, but the principle deciding factor relates to the quality of your skin tone. Generally, if you have good skin tone, then liposuction alone can achieve improved neck contour by removing unwanted fatty deposits. Liposuction procedures, however, rely on the skin’s ability to retract back (after the fat has been sucked out) to ensure that you are not left with loose hanging skin. If skin tone is limited, then a neck lift procedure is generally required to improve neck contour.

The vast majority of age-related changes that occur in the neck region are related to poor skin tone and neck muscle tone. Neck lift surgery can therefore be used to address these changes. As we age, skin tone reduces, leading to laxity and descent of the skin. When significant, this can lead to a large flap of loose neck skin that is sometimes described as a ‘Turkey neck’.

It is important to understand that the neck also contains a thin muscle that is attached to the skin – this is known as the platysma muscle.

Over time, changes in the platysma muscle can lead to many of the unwanted signs of ageing in the neck. Neck lift surgery frequently entails tightening, dividing, or re-suspending the platysma muscle.

Furthermore, if one is to comprehensively correct poor neck contour the unwanted changes seen in an ageing neck it is important that the causative factors are first identified and then corrected. Contributing factors include fatty tissue deposits, salivary glands, and muscles that form the floor of the neck. If the individual factors are left untreated, the results are likely to be short term and limited. It is therefore important that you see a surgeon that is competent in identifying and correcting the specific factors that are responsible for these changes.

An experienced surgeon should also be able to modify the surgical techniques required to correct the causative factors rather than simply applying a stock standard approach to neck lift surgery. It is this approach that will lead to a positive and long-lasting outcome. This skill is also what distinguishes a good result from an excellent one. It may also explain the differences in cost and time taken to perform the procedure.

A surgeon saying that they are able to perform your neck lift in 2-3 hours rather than 4-6 hours is not necessarily a good thing. Experienced surgeons typically spend 4 – 6 hours or more meticulously performing your procedure to achieve a desirable outcome. This is in keeping with my philosophy as….

‘It is always my desire to produce a neck that is beautifully contoured and proportioned. This means understanding the fine little nuances and modifying techniques that ensure the neck is tailored in a highly aesthetic manner.”

This means that your neck lift consultation should be more than just your surgeon advising you that the skin or neck muscles have become loose and need to be retightened and lifted. Whilst these factors certainly need to be addressed, it is often the activity of the platysma muscle, the amount of submental (under chin) fat, the position of your chin, the prominence of your submandibular (salivary) glands, the presence of prominent thyroid cartilage (Adams Apple), and digastric muscle fullness that all needed to be considered and managed to achieve optimal results.

A successful neck lift procedure is more than just simply pulling up the loose neck skin. It is only by considering all of the necessary factors that true correction and optimal neck contours can be achieved.

A range of surgical techniques may be used during a neck lift operation to address the skin, fat and/or muscle. Certain cases may require additional procedures to address prominent neck muscles or glands.

A neck lift procedure may also be performed to correct other age-related changes, including removal of unwanted fat deposits surrounding the neck region, correcting a “double chin” and jowling. Some individuals suffer from prominent banding along the front of the neck due to a separation of the normal neck musculature from the midline. This can usually be addressed with a submentoplasty (a type of neck lift procedure) and a platysmoplasty procedure via a small hidden incision under the chin.

Dr Reddy will formulate a treatment plan that is suitable for your specific neck shape and one that best addresses your needs and concerns.