Neck Liposuction and Aging

Everyone wants to look good and feel young, no matter their age. Plastic surgical procedures have been a popular way for many people to safely delay the effects of aging on their appearance. Face lifts, liposuction, and other procedures are commonly talked about and have become routine operations, performed safely on thousands every year. Related alterations, including liposuction and "tucking" of the neck, are not talked about as often, but are performed almost as commonly.

The neck is usually one of the first places age begins to show and many people wish to restore the looks of their necks as they become a little flabbier or wrinkled. Often, liposuctions or "tucks" are accompanied by laser resurfacing and dermabrasion to smooth the skin.

Younger patients who elect for this surgery tend to have fewer complications and shorter recovery times. They are, however, not the most common recipients of these procedures.

For most women, especially, as they age, the skin of the neck will begin to wrinkle and lose elasticity, getting "flabby" and heavier in the jowls. Face lift procedures often accentuate rather than repair this, leading to additional procedures. Using liposuction, a surgeon can remove excess fat which "pools" in spots, creating the heavier look many get as they age. Then by "tucking" and utilizing other techniques, the surgeon can smooth the skin surface, creating a younger look.

The platysma bands-the folds that appear vertically on the neck with age-are the most common reason women consider liposuction and other plastic surgeries on their necks. These folds contain more than just skin. They also contain superficial muscle and fats, which is usually removed using neck liposuction. The method of choice is usually the tumescent liposuction method, which while not removing the bands entirely, it can tighten the skin and reduce the size of the platysma bands to smooth the skin's surface.

Through the skilled use of neck liposuction, sutures, and "tucking," a skilled plastic surgeon can take twenty or more years of age signs off a woman's neck, restoring a younger, more healthy and youthful look. This procedure, even if done without an accompanying face lift, can often remove several years from a woman's appearance and give her a more youthful outlook.

Often this procedure, if done early, can reduce or eliminate the need for further surgeries later in life to remove later aging changes to the neck. That is how neck liposuction works and is used today.