Neck lift versus Liposuction for Neck Laxity and Double Chin by Dr. Young of Bellevue | Seattle: When a patient comes in for neck laxity and a double chin, the exam to figure out what options are best is vital. Typically what I do is to assess the neck for how much fat the neck has, how much laxity there is in the neck muscle (platysma), how the skin is, etc. The most important thing I ask patients to do is to show their lower teeth to assess the platysma. What this allows me to do is assess how lax the platysma is and if the laxity and double chin situations is due to the platysma being lax and is coming away from the deep neck structures. When someone shows their lower teeth and the platysma is tensing and showing through the skin and appears to be causing the neck laxity, a neck lift would seem to be the best option to improve the overall neck laxity. If the movement of showing the lower teeth does not show that the platysma showing through the skin of the neck and being the cause of the neck laxity and the fat could be responsible for the neck laxity, then liposuction could be the best option. My approach to neck laxity is based on over 1200 neck and facelifts. I tend to keep the platysma muscle intact without cutting it and I use sutures to tighten the platysma from under the chin to the bottom of the neck just like a corset and this technique is called the corset platysmaplasty. I think that working under this muscle is important as well include more defatting and more sculpting of the muscles deep to the platysma to further contour the neck and just under the chin. I further use sutures to further tighten the neck muscle laterally and not just in the midline. Laterally, I continual the tightening in a corset manner to improve the contour and also to shape the submandibular gland and its position. Here is a video to explain:
Thanks for reading, Dr Young
Dr Young specializes in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and is located in Bellevue near Seattle, Washington