What is Neck Lift Surgery?
Softenings or fattings occur in the lower jaw area for many reasons such as aging, excessive weight gain or genetic factors. These developments cause the skin to become loose and the face shape to deteriorate and make the person look older than they are. Fat excess in the lower jaw area is also a reason for this aged appearance. Sometimes the neck may become unnoticeable as a result of the fatting of the lower jaw region. Our patients who are uncomfortable with this situation generally prefer neck lift surgery.
Problems such as fat in the neck area, loss of elasticity or sagging may occur. For patients who have these problems but do not need a face lift operation, a neck lift operation is performed by creating an incision by imitating the natural folds under the jaw.
What Should Be Done Before Surgery?
A health check should be entered in a reliable center and it should be determined whether there is any health problem for this surgery.
Aspirin and aspirin-based medication should be stopped 10 days before the operation. All alternative medicine and herbal tea (except black tea and green tea) should be abandoned. Likewise, the use of all these should be stopped along three weeks after the surgery.
It is necessary to be careful in some details in order to heal quickly and properly and not to disrupt blood circulation and vascularization. Therefore, smoking should be stopped 2 weeks before the surgery and smoking should not be started until at least 4 weeks after the surgery. As before any operation requiring anesthesia, all food and beverage consumption must be finished at least 8 hours before the surgery.
Pre-Operation Interview and Preparing the Patient for the Surgery
In the meeting with your doctor before the surgery, your current complaints and post-operation expectation are primarily evaluated. If you decide on the surgery, the appropriate surgery day is planned for you.
- It is recommended that you do not use hair gel, wear comfortable clothes and leave your jewelery at home while coming to the hospital on the surgery day.
- You should be in the hospital about two hours before the surgery.
- When you come to your reserved room, you will be given an oral medicine if you wish and this will relax you.
How is A Neck Lift Surgery Performed?
Neck lift surgery usually starts with an incision made behind the ear (if it is combined with lower face lifting, an incision is made in front of the ear).After the incision made behind the ear, the neck skin is lifted from both sides up to the midline. During this procedure, there is no visible scar on the neck except behind (and sometimes in front) incisions. However, in some cases, if there is excessive fat accumulation and muscle laxity under the jaw, it may be necessary to use a 4 cm long incision under the jaw to repair the jowl area. During the procedure, first of all, fats that cause jowl sagging in the midline are removed in suitable patients. If there is no muscle repair in this area, these fats can also be removed by liposuction instead of making a transverse incision here. Simultaneously, the salivary glands that protrude under the jaw can be partially removed or hung inside the jaw. Separation of the bands that cause transverse wrinkles in the neck area, along with sub-jaw muscle repair, can also be done through the same incisions. Following all these procedures, the excess skin is collected behind the ear and removed from this area.
What is the Post-Operative Process?
Aesthetic neck lift operations should be performed under general anesthesia in any properly equipped hospital. The process takes about 1.5 – 2 hours. A drain is placed under the neck to prevent blood accumulation. The drain usually stays for 1 day and you can leave the hospital after 1 day when the drain is removed. If an attempt is made under the jaw after the operation, a bandage is applied under the jaw and this bandage remains for 1 week. After the surgery, conditions such as tension, pain, bruising, edema (swelling), and numbness on the skin surface may occur in the neck area and these situations are quite normal.Pain is not uncomfortable and can be easily controlled with painkillers. You can recover enough to travel by plane 2-3 days after the surgery.
One of the most important issues after this surgery is sleeping without a pillow for 2 weeks. Because the use of pillows will cause stretching of the repaired structures in the neck and softening before recovery. If attention is paid during the postoperative period, the neck area is a very fast healing area. It is possible to return to your business life within 1-2 weeks. The pain is almost nonexistent after this operation.
What Are the Risks of Neck Lift Surgery?
Bleeding:Although rare, bleeding may be encountered during or after a neck lift surgery. If bleeding occurs after the surgery, emergency drainage treatment may be required.
Infection: Infection is usually not expected after this surgery. However, if infection occurs, additional antibiotic therapy or surgical intervention may be required.
Having Bad Scars: Although a good wound healing is expected after surgical intervention, scars may occur due to some genetic features, infection or skin loss we encounter in smokers. Additional treatments may be required for these scars.
What Are the Alternatives of Neck Lift Surgery?
Liposuction
If there is only fat in your jowl area, it is possible to remove these fats only by liposuction without performing a neck lift operation. On the other hand, if there is a softening in your under-jaw muscles, then an incision is made under the chin. With this incision, the fat in this area can be removed and the muscles can be repaired. Additionally, partial melting of these fats is possible with injections containing deoxycholic acid. This last mentioned technique is the non-surgical injection procedure performed in the clinic.
Techniques of Hanging with Rope
Various techniques of hanging with rope without surgery have also emerged in recent years for neck sagging. However, this application is not performed in our clinic due to the fact that the results of these methods are very temporary, the result is not homogeneous and natural due to the points they hang, and also due to the reactions that may occur against the ropes.
How Much Does Neck Lift Surgery Cost?
With the reason of the Ministry of Health and the competition board, we cannot share the prices here, but you can get detailed information about the price and surgery by contacting us via Whatsapp or e-mail.
