If you’ve ever complained of a double chin, jowls or the dreaded “turkey neck,” a neck lift might be just what you need. As far as cosmetic surgeries go, few other procedures can have as great an impact on a person’s appearance. As we age and gravity takes its toll on us, we may start to see the skin around our face and neck start drooping first.
Neck lift surgery has a wide range of benefits, including:
- Reduction of “turkey neck”
- Improvement of wrinkles around the neck area
- A more defined jaw line
- Elimination of double chin
There are three key issues that contribute to an aged appearance of the neck — extra fat, excess skin and deteriorating neck muscles. A neck lift, or lower rhytidectomy, can address all three issues and be performed as a stand-alone surgery, or done in combination with other cosmetic procedures, such as a face lift, brow lift or dermal fillers.
The Procedure
A necklift can be performed under local anesthesia with sedation or general anesthesia. The incisions for a necklift follow the lines around the earlobes and extend back behind the ear and into the hairline. A small incision is also made underneath the chin to help with tightening the neck muscles. This way, the incisions stay inconspicuous and heal very well. Dr. Schreiber will then lift the skin off of the underlying neck muscles. This allows him to tighten the neck muscles in order to help establish a long-lasting improved contour to the neck. Tightening the neck muscles also gives a more youthful, smooth contour to the neck.
What is the recovery time for a neck lift?
Most patients can resume their normal activities within two weeks of surgery. Swelling and bruising around the neck is common, and your neck may also feel tighter than usual for a few weeks or longer, depending on the patient. The stitches in front of the ears are removed 3-5 days after the procedure. The stitches behind the ear are removed about 7 days after the necklift procedure.
Dressings are placed right after the operation and they stay on for 3 days. Following the removal of the dressings three days later, you can shower and wash your hair.
Surgical vs Nonsurgical
A Baltimore neck lift requires a considerable amount of individualized assessment, because a particular technique that may work well on one neck may not work well on another. There are also many trendy nonsurgical procedures that claim to give you neck lift results however, those are rarely successful, long lasting or natural appearing.
Another thing to consider is while you may think you just need a neck lift, sometimes a lower face lift may be the better option as it bring the face to full correction.
Necklifts are commonly used to remove the excess skin of the neck and to tighten the muscles of the neck.
Ready to get rid of the “Turkey Neck”? Call Dr. Jeffrey Schreiber today (410) 902-9800 to schedule your consultation
