A neck lift can make a huge difference in a person’s appearance. In this video, Dr. Jeffrey Popp at Popp Cosmetic Surgery PC in Omaha gives an introduction to neck lifts, answering questions such as, “How do you recover from a neck lift?” and more.
What is the Difference Between a Neck Lift and a Face Lift?
Well, the easy answer is a face lift would include a neck lift but the neck lift by itself only targets the neck, from the jaw line to the clavicle.
Dr. Jeff Popp explained the person who opts for a neck lift is the person who doesn’t like what their neck looks like because of what he terms, “a neck ”
Three Things that Need to be Addressed in a Neck Lift
Dr. Popp described the three areas that are addressed when he does a neck lift on someone. He said these areas move from the outside and go in:
- The outer layer of skin – the person might have loose skin on the neck
- The next layer is fat – a person might have too much fat in their neck
- The third layer is muscle – there’s a rectangular muscle in the neck called the platysma muscle and it has no functional value.
According to Dr. Popp, the platysma muscle “doesn’t move your neck or any of that. It just makes you look older as you age. That’s because as we get older, this muscle tends to collapse in the middle and it creates these bands and this wattle-y thing on the neck.”
The neck lift procedure typically addresses all three of these issues.
As Dr. Popp explained, “When we are just doing a neck lift, we make an incision behind each ear and one under the chin. Then the first thing we do is clean out all the excess fat in the neck. This is done via suction.”
Addressing the muscle layer means cutting out the bands and sewing them together. Dr. Popp said he may remove some of the lower muscle or cut it out completely. This helps tighten the area.
“For most patients we also do a neck suspension suture. We use a thread made of GORE-TEX and run that from ear to ear. Think of it like a small hammock held between your fingers. If you pull up on the thread, it pulls everything up and sucks it in,” said Dr. Popp.
How Do You Recover from a Neck Lift?
A neck lift, as any other procedure, requires a few follow-up visits. In most cases, there will be a visit the next day or the following week or both.
You will go home with drains and will have to leave them in for two days. These are hooked up to a rubber bulb so you can periodically pull off and drain the excess fluid. You will also be wearing a compression garment to keep things snug. That has to be worn 24 hours a day the first four days, possibly up to a week. You are allowed to take it off when you shower.
Sutures are removed about a week after the procedure.
There’s some swelling and bruising but it’s more like a generalized soreness as opposed to pain, “Some people will experience discomfort with swallowing or turning their head side-to-side but that goes away,” said Dr. Popp.
As people work from home, this procedure is super popular and Dr. Popp said it’s the number one thing he’s doing right now.
