The aging of the skin on the neck attracts special attention of both plastic surgeons and their patients. From the point of view of women, this area most strongly betrays their age, and from the point of view of a doctor, a competent correction of this zone immediately gives a distinct effect of rejuvenating the appearance. At the same time, both parties agree that age-related changes appear most early on the skin of the neck. Firstly, this happens because it is the neck that is exposed to solar ultraviolet radiation and dry hot wind in summer, and in winter – hard friction of clothes and sudden changes in external temperatures, which causes its dryness and the appearance of flabbiness. And secondly, here thin stretchable skin is combined with active muscles, which leads to the rapid formation of wrinkles.
Involutional changes that occur with aging of the skin on the neck
Aging of the skin on the neck is caused by external and internal causes. On the one hand, cells in this area contain fewer melanocytes than, for example, facial cells, and therefore produce less melanin, which can mitigate the damaging effects of UV radiation during prolonged exposure to the sun. In addition, there are very few sebaceous glands in the skin of the neck, and therefore it has an increased tendency to lose moisture.
As for the internal causes of involutional changes, with age, changes in the structure of the bone tissue of the cervical spine and lower jaw lead to a smoothing of the cervico-chin angle. The medial and lateral fat pads gradually move downward, causing sagging skin in this part of the neck.
Because the skin on the neck is very thin, it is not able to prevent the sagging of the shifting medial fat pads for a long time, which is why a saggy fold is gradually formed in the medial part of the neck, then – the second chin, and then, if not corrected, the skin will completely lose its tone and there will be a significant excess of it.
What plastic surgery can do for aging skin on the neck
The neck area is rarely considered by plastic surgeons as a separate object of correction. With aging skin on the neck, its lifting is usually carried out during the rejuvenating facelift surgery of the middle and lower thirds of the face. In this case, several anatomical formations are moved and fixed, which makes it possible to achieve a good long-term effect.
But in some cases, depending on how pronounced age-related changes, a separate correction is carried out precisely in the neck area, and for this, methods of individual operations have been developed – liposuction, cervicoplasty and platysmaplasty.
Liposuction is performed even in young women over the age of 20, if there are excess fat deposits that form a second chin. If the skin has good elasticity, then a certain reduction of fat packages in the area of the lower jaw and second chin is performed.
Cervicoplasty is performed for mild ptosis and consists in removing excess skin, often becoming one of the stages of facelift.
Platysmaplasty – a rather complicated operation, which allows almost complete remodeling of the cervico-maxillary angle, due to the redistribution of musculo-cervical flaps. At the same time, the second chin, and vertical strands, and sagging profile are corrected.
Results that can be achieved with the surgical correction of skin aging on the neck:
- remove double chin;
- restore the elasticity of the skin on the neck;
- to achieve a clear oval of the face, the disappearance of vertical bands and transverse wrinkles on the neck.
After the operation, the patient can return to his usual way of life in a few weeks, however, the final effect can be seen only after 3-6 months, while the tightening of the skin on the neck will remain 5-10 years (depending on the lifestyle of the patient) .
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