How to Get Rid of a Turkey Neck?

Nobody wants a turkey neck. If you have loose neck skin or visible neck bands, hearing this term may make you even more self-conscious. Sagging skin around your neck can make you look significantly older than you really are, making your lower face and jawline look less defined. While you have a few options to address loose neck skin, a neck lift is often the most effective.

What is a Turkey Neck?

Several factors may contribute to a sagging, loose appearance around the neck area.

Your skin starts to lose firmness due to collagen loss and years of stretching and pulling
Fat starts to accumulate in the area, especially under the chin
The platysmal muscles separate, leading to the appearance of muscular neck bands

Whether you have some or all of these concerns, your team at Specialty Aesthetic Surgery will develop a plan to help you treat them. While you have several treatment options, the best treatment for noticeable amounts of loose skin is typically neck surgery.

How to Get Rid of a Turkey Neck

Sagging neck skin can obscure the attractive angles of your neck, chin, and jawline that define your lower face. While minor skin laxity can sometimes be addressed without surgery, a neck lift is the most effective way to address sagging, wrinkling, and crepey-looking skin.

A neck lift is performed using general anesthesia. Because the neck has many vital structures and requires a high degree of skill, the procedure can take up to five hours. Using small, strategically hidden incisions, your surgeon lifts and tightens loose skin and repairs neck bands. The details of the procedure will depend on your needs, requiring different types of incisions.

Are There Non-Surgical Ways to Get Rid of a Turkey Neck?

Whether you can achieve improvements without surgery will depend on how much loose skin you have and other factors. Non-surgical skin tightening is most effective for individuals with minor skin laxity who want to see a more contoured neckline.

One of the best non-surgical treatments for loose neck skin is Morpheus, an advanced radiofrequency microneedling system. This treatment uses tiny needles to deliver radiofrequency energy a few millimeters into the skin, stimulating the cells there to boost their collagen development.

With a series of microneedling treatments, you can see improvements in minor skin laxity within about three months. However, people with sagging or drooping skin will not generally achieve good results with this treatment.

What to Expect After a Neck Lift

Because each neck lift is customized, the details of your recovery will vary. However, the most important way to achieve your best results is to follow your team’s instructions and not push your body too hard while you heal.

What is Recovery Like?

You may feel tightness, swelling, and discomfort in your neck after your procedure. If you had an in-office procedure, you can typically return to work within a week. More advanced procedures may require up to two weeks of recovery time.

During your follow-up visits, we will evaluate your progress and clear you to return to your exercise routine, often after four to six weeks. While healing, you will need to limit strenuous activities, particularly lifting.

What Results Will I See?

Although your neck will look different immediately after surgery, you will need to wait a week or two for the swelling to fade before you can appreciate your results fully. Any feeling of tightness in your neck will also disappear over time.

The results of a neck lift can last for many years, although it cannot prevent the aging process from moving forward. You can help your results last longer by including your neck in your anti-aging skincare routine, including consistent sunscreen use.

Can a Neck Lift Be Combined With Other Procedures?

You can have a neck lift with many other procedures depending on your goals and concerns. Since people who have issues with sagging neck skin often have loose skin in other areas, having several procedures together can help achieve the best results.

Neck Liposuction

If you have excess fat under your chin or around your neck, your surgeon may add neck liposuction to your neck lift. This precise form of liposuction removes the unwanted fat and sculpts your jawline for a more contoured appearance. It can also be used alone for those with unwanted submental fat but not much skin laxity.

Facelift

If your concerns about loose neck skin extend up into your jowls and lower face, a facelift and neck lift may be the ideal combination for your needs. A facelift begins where a neck lift ends to provide a tighter, more defined lower face, slimmer neck, and more shapely jawline. Many people choose to include a neck lift with their facelift for overall rejuvenation.

Take the Next Step – Request a Consultation

Want to learn more about getting rid of a turkey neck? Schedule your consultation online or by calling Specialty Aesthetic Surgery at (212) 737-8700. We look forward to working with you!

Specialty Aesthetic Surgery serves the greater NYC metro area.

About Our Surgeons

Bruce Moskowitz is an experienced and board-certified oculoplastic surgeon. His practice encompasses all areas of oculoplastic cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. He has a well-known reputation for revision surgery, and a large portion of his practice comes from other colleagues to revise sub-optimal outcomes.

Grigoriy Mashkevich is an experienced and double-board certified facial plastic surgeon. He belongs to a highly select group of surgeons with a focused specialization in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery of the nose, face, and neck.

Dr. Anna Frants is a board-certified facial plastic surgeon who is experienced in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. Her areas of expertise include surgery of the face, neck, nose, eyelids, eyebrows, and ears.

*Individual results may vary