Scarless Neck Lift Surgery
Are you carrying unwanted fat around your neck? If so, we have an exciting solution that can reduce fat or saggy skin without having a traditional facelift and extensive downtime.
Dr. Charles Mok of Allure Medical performed the first laser (1320nm) lipo-microsuction neck lift in the U.S. in 2006. Being a pioneer in the field of cosmetic surgery, Dr. Mok continued to hone in on this surgery to make it even more successful and easy.
We now call this procedure “scarless” because only 3 tiny incisions are made in places that are virtually unseen. Using a 1mm device, we make one incision under the chin, and two behind the ears. The placement of these incisions allows us to get the most lift in the neck while leaving the smallest of marks (if any) in discrete places.
Understanding Neck Sagginess
The appearance of a saggy neck is made up of 3 components: skin, fat, and muscle.
- Skin
As fat grows in the neck, the skin stretches to accommodate the extra fat tissue, however, the skin has amazing regeneration abilities. Unless there is massive stretching, such as pregnancy, or fast stretching such as growth spurts leading to stretch marks, the skin will retract when the pressure of fat is removed. Additionally, the skin can be treated with various modalities leading to tightening if the pressure of fat and underlying connective tissue is removed. - Fat
When fat cells enlarge, the tissue gets thicker, when weight is lost, the fat cells shrink, so the tissue shrinks. Genetically people store fat in various areas, and some people have disproportionate fat in their necks. Fat tissue is one of the easiest and safest things to remove. Virtually, all of the fat can be removed from an area. The body will not suffer from the loss of fat tissue in the neck. - Muscle
The muscle of the neck (platysma) can get saggy from loss of support as well as from deflation of the face. This leads to bands in the neck that appear to be skin, but if you can make them move with facial expression, it is actually the platysma muscle that you are seeing.
The Best Candidate for Scarless Neck Lift Surgery
To determine who is a good candidate, there are a few things to consider. First, we need to figure out what is causing the appearance of a full neck. Is the muscle (platysma) the predominant loose tissue or is it excess fat? It may appear to be loose skin, but remarkably, the skin generally responds to the volume of excess fat or muscle. The more fat and/or muscle that accumulates, the more skin is needed to accommodate. At a surgical consultation, we access each patient and can determine the cause of the full neck.
Patient Scarless Neck Lift Case:
When there is only fat and no muscle, the tightening is more dramatic:
