Introduction: People young and old undergo this neck llift
surgery all the time. A neck lift will make a person look like he
or she has lost a lot of weight. This procedure corrects the loose
neck muscles. Removes the excess fat and also removes excess skin
from the neck. A neck lift has two kinds of procedures to improve
the appearance of your neck.
• Cervicoplasty: this procedure is used to remove excess skin.
• Platysmaplasty: this procedure removes or alters neck muscles.
Pre-surgery planning:
• The neck lift surgery takes two or three hours. The time will
vary according to what kind of surgery you will be going
through.
• In order to undergo a neck lift, you must be in a good general
health, both physically and mentally.
• Be frank with your neck lift surgeon about what you want to be
altered in your neck. Make sure you get the results you want.
• During your consultation, your surgeon will instruct you on what
medications to avoid prior to your surgery.
• If you are a smoker, you must quit at least two weeks before the
surgery and two weeks after, to ensure proper healing.
• Make sure you wear loose, comfortable clothing on the day of the
surgery.
Neck Lift Surgery Procedure and Problems: The most common
problems are
• Turkey wattle neck weakened or loose neck muscles.
• Excess fat
• Too much skin
Turkey wattle-weakened or loose neck muscles If you have
weakened or loose muscle, this may cause the turkey wattle or
appearance of neck “bands”. Your surgeon may recommend
Platysmaplasty surgery to correct this. The surgeon makes incisions
under your chin and/or before your ears to access the platysma and
manipulate it accordingly. The surgeon may also use permanent
sutures to hold the tissue in place. The surgeon may also decide to
use a less invasive procedure by making a smaller incision and use
an endoscope (small camera attached to a think tube) to do the
surgery. You can ask your surgeon to use either local or general
anesthesia depending how you feel. If necessary botox injections
are used to make you feel relaxed parts of neck muscles which give
“band” appearances to the neck. This can be done on an outpatient
basis and completed within 15 minutes.
Excess fat: During liposuction the surgeon will make a small
incision below the chin and remove the excess fat. This procedure
will take an hour. Your incisions will be stitched and
bandaged.
Too much skin: Surgeon will make sure similar incisions for a
Cervicoplasty, trimming parts of the skin and lifting it into
place. It will be secured with tissue glue or stitches. The
Cervicoplasty can be completed in about two or four hours,
depending on the complexity of your procedure. Again your
anesthesia will depend on your own comfort level. The bandage will
have to be worn for a week. Unless instructed otherwise.
Recovery: Recovery takes time. Most people return to their
normal routine after 10-14 days. You need to wait for at least
three weeks before you become physically active.
Complications:
• In the first few weeks after the surgery you will have swelling
and bruising that can last for several days.
• You may feel tightness or tingling and different sensations
including burning or pulling.
• You may also experience numbness
• There is a risk of infection
• If you are running temperature then contact your doctor.