Question:What exactly does the necklift address? Is it just for sagging skin or are the muscles tightened too?
Answer: There are different types of neck lifts, all of which primarily address the neck more than the jaw line.
a. Mini neck lift: Only sagging skin is addressed thru a small incision behind the ears.
b. Neck lift with platysma muscle tightening: the sagging underlying muscles are lifted as well. The neck bands created by muscle cords are also addressed thru a small incision under the chin. Sedation is usually required.
c. Direct neck lift: excess skin is directly removed in the mid-line of the neck rather than big incisions behind the ears and into the hairline. The advantage is that by addressing skin where it is sagging the most, in the middle of the neck, a better neck lift result can be obtained. The muscles can also be tightened. No sedation anesthesia is needed, and surgery time is much shorter i.e. cost much lower. This is a very effective, economical, minimal downtime way to address the neck. The only drawback can be that in the initial healing phase, a visible mark is present in the front of the neck. Healing of the scar is facilitated with Fraxel laser treatments starting 6 weeks post surgery.
