From Turkey To Swan – Anti-Age Your Neck

Posted: Thursday 17 June 2010 03:52pm

You’ve taken care of your facial skin since your teens, lavished it with lotions, potions, sunscreen, facials and perhaps cosmedical treatments like peels, laser and light therapies or injectables.

But your neck was an afterthought – although ironically it is quicker to age – and now it’s getting its revenge by looking crepey, saggy or jowly, and older than the face above. Sound familiar?

Resorting to scarves, polo necks or chunky necklaces is an option, but there are better alternatives:

NECK LIFT AND LIPOSUCTION

If you’ve developed what is fondly known as a turkey neck – excess, loose-hanging skin that has lost its elasticity – surgery may be your best option.

Typically, a neck lift is performed during a full facelift or an S-lift (a mini- or short-scar facelift), but it can also be done as a stand-alone procedure.

Two or more procedures may be involved:

•           Liposuction to remove fat. This is normally performed first: an incision is made below the chin and a small cannula (a hollow tube with an opening near its blunt end) is inserted beneath the skin and into the fatty tissue. The cannula is used to break up the fat, and then remove it from the neck area.

•         Cervicoplasty to remove excess skin.

•           Platysmaplasty to remove or tighten platysma bands (vertical muscle bands in the neck), thus eliminate unwanted “band lines”.

“Incisions for the necklift procedure are made in the crease under the chin and behind the ears,” says  surgeon Dr Warwick Nettle, of Sydney’s Silkwood Medical.

“The skin is lifted away from the underlying muscles and, if necessary, any extra fat is removed using liposuction.

“The muscles are usually joined in the midline. It is also possible to join the muscles in the midline and put a stitch through from ear to ear, depending on how tight the patient wants their neck to be.

“This surgery is most commonly performed under general anaesthetic as a day procedure. Local anaesthesia combined with a sedative, administered by an experienced anaesthetist, may be selected. For younger people who require less work, the procedure may be performed in the office.

“You will be required to wear a chin strap for a week after surgery and drains are removed after 3-4 days.”

Downtime: From 10 days to two weeks. The neck, jaw, and ears may be bruised and may continue to swell for up to 10 days. As a result, it will be recommended keeping your head and neck still and elevated at all times during that period.

Cost: Approximately $9000.

Risks and side-effects: Numbness of the skin occurs often for a few weeks after surgery. On rare occasions, this can be permanent. Other complications may include scar tissue build-up or puckering of the skin.

Results: The benefits will last up to 10 years, as long as the patient follows healthy lifestyle choices, maintains a constant weight and stays out of the sun.

“A neck lift will improve loose, sagging skin of the neck but will not help the fine crepe-paper appearance of someone with very thin skin,” adds Gold Coast surgeon Dr John Flynn.

FIT FOR ROYALTY

Egyptian Queen Nefertiti was a beauty of legend, especially admired for her long, graceful neck.

A neck rejuvenation technique achieved with muscle relaxant injections such as Botox has thus been dubbed “the Nefertiti lift”.

It was developed to address “banding” – vertical cords that appear when the platysma, the thin sheet of muscle that covers the neck, begins to stretch out of shape.

Botox is injected directly into the platysma, temporarily smoothing the cords by relaxing the
muscle.

Gold Coast surgeon Dr Terrence Scamp describes the Nefertiti as “an effective non surgical mini lift to rejuvenate the neck and jaw …  elevating the corners of the mouth, lifting and improving definition of the jaw line.”

Results are variable, depending on how individual patient’s skin and muscle responds. Suitable candidates  can expect the neck to remain smooth and slimmer-looking for between four and five months.

Cost: Upwards of $900

LASER LIPOLYSIS

If you don’t have a great deal of excess skin, droopy and pouchy necks can be corrrected by a laser technique that melts fat deposits and, over a few months months, will tighten the skin by forming new collagen and elastin.

“Turkey necks and double chins can make us look overweight and older than we really are,” says Dr Joseph Ajaka, of Sydney’s Cosmos Cosmetic Clinic. “Until recently the only solution has been going under the knife. Now laser technology can [achieve neck lifting] with a 30-minute walk-in, walk-out procedure with no scars or downtime. Patients can return to normal activities the next day.”

Dr Ajaka has dubbed the procedure the “Swan Lift”. Using a system called Sciton Prolipo Plus and performed under light sedation, it involves placing an ultra-thin laser fibre just below the surface of the skin.

“The laser energy heats up the all-important collagen and elastin fibres, causing them to instantaneously contracts while melting small fatty deposits,” he says.

“Results continue to improve over the next 6-9 weeks, with significant improvement in the overall skin quality as a bonus.

“This procedure is a breakthrough in treating turkey necks without the need to remove any skin and for a fraction of a traditional neck lift. The Swan Lift is $3300.”

Lipocontrol, a new laser lipolysis system from Paris, can work on all parts of the body where there is excess fat but is excellent for neck and facial contouring because its 1mm cannula can be inserted through multiple penetration points without leaving significant skin marks, if any at all, says Sydney laser cosmetic surgeon Dr Jack Ting.

The system also boasts breakthrough technology which allows the surgeon to see on a GPS-like system exactly where the cannula is moving, and will cut off if it strays outside the treatment area.

“The initial result is evident within a week, but the optimal result will take three to six months,” says Dr Ting. “Cost is time based, but to smooth the jowls, upper neck, and fat under the chin could cost from $4000.”

THEY WANT YOUR BLOOD
A patient’s own blood is centrifuged in the doctor’s rooms to extract platelet-rich plasma. This is drawn into a syringe and mixed with calcium chloride, then injected into the area being treated, triggering cell renewal and creates a natural restructuring of skin.

COLLAGEN INDUCTION THERAPY
Technologies like Thermage and Ultherapy are forms of Collagen Induction Therapy (CIT) and safely firm and lift skin tissue without disturbing or affecting the skin’s surface. While their chief claims are the firming of facial contours and loose skin, the texture of the skin (hence wrinkles and lines) also benefits.

MELTING MOMENTS

Dubbed “fat-melting” injections, mesotherapy and lipotherapy are designed to treat small areas of localised fat. Not everyone is a “responder” and if part of the issue is slackness of the skin, when the fat dissolves over a course of treatments, you may be left with a new problem of looser skin.
Costs range between $400 and $800 per treatment depending on the area to be treated. Patients may experience significant results after one treatment; others may need to return at intervals for further injections.

BEAUTY DOESN’T STOP AT THE CHIN

A good skincare regime that incorporates the neck and decolletage from an early age will reduce neck ageing by up to 30 per cent in later years. If the damage is done, don’t let it get any worse – be kind to your neck from now on!

by Jenni Gilbert

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