Common Questions
Neck Lift FAQs
How long does a neck lift last?
There is no dedicated study of neck lift longevity, so any number is experience rather than data. Pooled band recurrence was 1.4 percent with short follow-up, and facelift series put a second procedure at nine to eleven years. Expect many good years, not a permanent fix.
What is platysmaplasty?
Surgery on the platysma, the thin sheet of muscle covering the front of the neck, whose halves separate in the midline with age and show as vertical bands. A midline (corset) platysmaplasty rejoins the edges through a small incision under the chin; a lateral platysmaplasty tightens the muscle sideways. Many necks need both.
How long is recovery for a neck lift?
Our protocol asks for at least one week of rest from work, and most patients feel presentable in the second or third week. Deep swelling under the chin takes months to settle. These timelines are our patients' experience, not published data.
What is a deep neck lift and how does it work?
A deep neck lift goes beneath the platysma. Opening the muscle exposes the subplatysmal fat, the paired anterior digastric muscles and the superficial lobe of the submandibular gland, and conservative reduction sharpens the chin to neck angle in a way skin tightening cannot. It suits a specific anatomy, and it adds risk.
Neck lift or facelift — which one do I need?
A neck lift changes the neck; a facelift changes the cheek and jawline and usually the neck as well. A jowl is a cheek problem, so a neck operation sharpens the line behind it without repositioning it. If pulling the neck skin back toward the ears gives the line wanted, a neck operation may be enough.
Can a deep neck lift change your voice?
The published answer is reassuring: in 452 neck lift patients, adding anterior digastric myectomy did not increase difficulty swallowing, altered speech or throat pain, and the larynx itself is never entered. Temporary throat tightness while swelling settles is common; lasting voice change is not a described outcome.
Will I need drains after a neck lift?
Our written post-operative instructions do not describe a drain, so this answer rests on the published literature: a Level One randomized trial of 160 patients found no significant difference in hematoma, seroma or swelling between a hemostatic net and a surgical drain, and a meta-analysis of 8,841 patients found no clearly superior method.
What is a cobra neck deformity?
Cobra neck is a hollow under the chin flanked by fullness on either side, following over-resection of the midline fat with the lateral neck left untouched. It is hard to correct afterward, usually needing fat grafted back in, which is why conservative midline resection matters.
Do platysmal bands come back?
Some do, and the published rate understates it: the pooled 1.4 percent across 2,106 patients came with a call for longer reporting, and recurrent banding is the most frequently cited reason for revision. A band returning early usually means it was released but not secured, or deeper fullness was never addressed.
Is submandibular gland reduction safe?
It can improve contour in selected patients, and long term data does not exist. Nerve injury was 3.97 percent, sialocele 1.33 percent and prolonged firmness 21.43 percent across 3,379 patients, 1,651 with resection; dry mouth was reported at 0.13 percent, but no study used a validated instrument or went past six months.
Am I too old for a neck lift?
Age alone is not the limit: the mean age in the office based local anesthesia series was 63.5 years, and these operations are routinely performed into the late seventies. Medical fitness, blood pressure control, nicotine use and skin quality matter more, and older skin more often needs removing than redraping.
How long will my neck feel tight and numb?
Tightness is worst in the first day or two, eases from the second week, and is mostly gone by around three months. Numbness under the chin and along the jawline typically takes six to twelve weeks, and odd patches can persist to six months.
Should I be doing neck stretching exercises?
Not in the first two weeks, and after that nobody knows whether it helps; no validated stretching protocol exists after neck lift. Practice protocol, not evidence: our sheet asks patients to avoid activities that require turning the neck for at least two weeks, because a fresh midline muscle repair needs time to hold, and regular physical activity resumes in week three unless Dr. Kim says otherwise. We offer no stretching program.
I have a firm lump under my chin. Is that normal?
Usually. Firmness is close to universal once swelling recedes, from buried suture knots, fat that did not survive, or healing fibrosis, and most of it settles over three to twelve months. Call early about a lump on one side only that is getting bigger, anything tender, hot or red, or a swelling that changes when you eat.
