Turkey Neck and Double Chin Treatment

What is a Turkey Neck and Double Chin?

A turkey neck is a term used to refer to loose skin on the neck that hangs down much like the wattle on a turkey while a double chin describes the extra roll of flesh that is fatty and located below a person’s chin.

WHY DO THEY HAPPEN?

One of the most common causes is simple genetics. Aging can also cause the tissues to relax and sag.

Another cause involves the position of the neck. Set back chins can cause people to have the appearance of a short and sagging neck.

TREATMENT OPTIONS

One of the more common issues with patients is fat immediately underneath the chin in the submental area. Mental describes the mandible or jawbone.   If the patient is young and their skin will contract, there are a variety of treatment options.

1. CoolSculpt – This non-invasive treatment freezes the fat underneath the chin. A cooling plate is placed underneath the chin and that fat is frozen. The temperature of the fat and the skin is carefully monitored because the fat tends to freeze before the skin.
2. Kybella – A toxic substance that is injected into the fat to dissolve it. It is a little more painful and also swells a little bit more other options.
3. Thermi – A laser treatment which is put underneath the skin through needle holes. It can dissolve the fat but also heats up the skin underneath it which can cause the area to contract. Thermi is probably the most popular option right now among patients.
4. Liposuction – A suction method to remove the fat. It involves a little more bruising and the skin does not contract as much. It is a way of suctioning out the fat without getting the skin contraction with it.
5. Surgical Tightening – There are different options when it comes to skin tightening. One method is done through needle holes. It is a suturing method that goes through the skin, loops around some of the ligaments and tightens it. It is essentially a suture suspension for the neck. If the surgeon does the surgical tightening through little incisions or no incisions, the procedure is considered a neck lift. Usually that is done in accordance with a corset platysmaplasty where the surgeon makes a corset out of the muscles of the neck and tightens them up. It can pull the neck skin back because the skin on older patients does not contract so some of the skin has to be removed. Those techniques can be done without doing a facelift on older patients.  Skin excision usually starts to happen around age 50. Finally, some people have chins that are pushed back so they get a small chin implant to give the illusion of a longer neck.

EXAMINING PATIENTS

All patients need to be evaluated. The doctor needs to feel the neck in order to see how thick it is and to determine the best treatment option for the patient. Treating a turkey neck and double chin helps to add some contour to the face and neck area of patients who are a little bit overweight.

MALES VS. FEMALES

A surgeon can make a lot of changes and most people can get a pretty, angular neck. Usually a female patient gets a very nice neck but it is harder for men to get a more contoured neck. Men have more bulk so what is considered a nice neck on a man does not necessarily have to be a perfectly angled neck in a 55-to-65-year-old guy to make him happy. On the other hand, he does not want a turkey waddle. He wants a formed neck that does not look like he is ballooned out. The surgeon can take out fat and some of the digastric muscles above and below the level. There has to be a little more contour to a heavy male neck to make the patient happy.

The approach for treating turkey necks and double chins for male and female patients can be similar or it can be different. Basically, the doctor has to evaluate what structures in the neck are causing things. If it is just fat, the skin is going to contract and the fat is immediately under the chin. It can be frozen or treated with Kybella, liposuction or lasers depending on the patient.

COMPLICATIONS THAT CAN OCCUR

One of the main complications is dissatisfaction among patients who think they did not get enough of a change from the treatment utilized by the surgeon.

Patients also get some numbness after a procedure that fades away as time passes. Theoretically, there can be problems moving the face but that is very rare in the neck because most of the nerves are up above the jawbone. If this happens, it is extremely rare and temporary.

There can be bleeding and bruising afterwards as well as temporary swelling and pain.

Kybella is a good treatment but there can be some loose skin afterwards. There can be some retraction from the inflammation but that would probably be similar to liposuction. The doctor cannot inject out to the sides. It has to be directly under the mandible. Doctors are not cleared for going out further because there are more structures out there that could be damaged. They are also not cleared for taking out fat underneath the platysma muscle. There are limitations for where the surgeon can operate and every procedure or every approach has their own limitations.

RECOVERY 

In general, neck lifting has some temporary bruising so a person can wear a scarf when they go out in public. Neck lifts, as opposed to facelifts, do not have a lot of downtime after the procedure. The patient has a recovery time of 2-5 days and the pain is not bad at all. Patients should not be working out heavily for a couple of weeks so they do not tear things apart. They are allowed to shower in order to keep the area clean. In general, there is about a week of swelling and most people take 4 or 5 days off work after a neck lift.

FACELIFT

Sometimes patients also have a facelift while treating their turkey necks. A lot of males just do the neck lift. There are some women that are really sagging so they choose to have a facelift as well. The combination of a facelift with a neck lift maximizes the results. What happens to women right around menopause age is they feel like they aged overnight. It is a sudden impact and they really want to look younger again. A facelift helps fill their self-esteem needs.

MAINTENANCE

The turkey neck and double chin issues can reoccur after they have been treated. The neck skin can stretch out and the neck structures are going to go on aging even after Kybella injections or freezing treatments. Nonsurgical tightening of the neck such as Ulthera can be added to combine fat removal with skin tightening of the neck. Ulthera is not a surgical neck lift but it can be used to maintain the neck.

A patient that has a facelift can also use Ulthera or a BioFusionary type of treatment to tighten and rejuvenate the neck skin about every two years to maintain the results they have already achieved.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Out of all of the options currently available, there is a choice available for almost every patient. The procedures can be tailored to give the patient a number of options. However, a surgical procedure is still the best choice for a person over the age of 50 as surgery is going to give them the best results. Younger people who have a genetic low neck or a heavy neck will also get the best results from a surgical procedure even though they can still get nice results using other techniques.

Consult With a Doctor Near You

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Written by Cosmetic Town Editorial Team- MA

Based on an exclusive interview with Gregory S. Keller, MD in Beverly Hills, CA