Tighter Necks after Thanksgiving

A woman has skincare on her neck.A loose giggly neck? The first thing that comes to mind, especially since we just celebrated Thanksgiving, is a turkey.

Well, we may be into January of 2022, but if you’re thinking of a loose, giggly neck it’s probably not the turkey. It’s your neck, and this time of year you spend much of the time hiding it under a perennial turtleneck sweater.

That’s no way to go through life. What’s going to happen in the spring and summer?

A neck lift with our six board-certified plastic surgeons at UMass Memorial can tighten that neck and ensure any future references to a turkey are simply the stuff of recipes.

What’s wrong with my neck?

Gravity and aging are not kind to our necks. Believe it or not, our neck is generally one of the first places on the body to really show aging. A couple things are at work here. First, our muscles become less taut as we age. On the neck this shows itself with lovely neck bands. Second, our skin loosens as we age, and our bodies stop producing as much collagen. And where our skin usually has bone and muscle structure under it to support it, on the neck the skin is simply hanging downward. No wonder it’s drooping after decades of existence!

People forget their necks

What’s interesting is that people are always concerned about their faces and aging. They may opt for a facelift, or a brow lift, maybe both. They may opt for fillers and Botox to fight back the ongoing march of wrinkles.

But they tend to stop at the chin, and this can be a glaring mistake. After all, in a tank top, while your face may be rejuvenated, if you’ve overlooked your neck, there will be an odd demarcation line. Our UMass Memorial plastic surgeons perform neck lifts to keep up with those facial procedures.

What is a neck lift?

A neck lift is a facial plastic surgery procedure that addresses loose neck skin, excess fat under the chin, excess skin and sagging skin in the lower face, and muscle banding on the neck. In a neck lift, our surgeons remove excess fat and skin, but also tighten the underlying muscles. A good candidate for a neck lift has most of their facial aging showing on the lower part of the face.

How is a neck lift done?

The most common technique involves making incisions around the bottom of the ears, extending into the hairline. The skin and muscle tissue are then lifted upward and outward in the neck and lower cheeks. Excess skin is removed.

For patients without too much excess skin, our UMass Memorial surgeons make the incision under the chin. They remove excess fat with liposuction and tighten the muscles to improve the contour.

Don’t stop at your chin when considering your facial aging. Our necks age even faster. If you’re interested in tightening things back up call us at UMass Memorial Medical Group, (508) 334-5990, and set up a consultation for a neck lift.

Comments are closed.