Neck Lift Surgery Procedure

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Sedation before Neck Lift Surgery

Just before the surgery you may be feeling anxious, and so, to reduce your unease, it is helpful to know what is happening to your body during the operation. Knowing what takes place will also prepare you for how you will look during your recovery. Nonetheless, when it comes to the moments before your surgery you may still feel anxious. Your anxiety can be relieved by the administering of valium or another sedative, ask your surgeon about your options.

Anaesthesia in Neck Lift Surgery

Your vital statistics must absolutely be monitored throughout the surgical process. Monitoring pads will therefore be attached to you to allow such observations. You are also likely to be given an intravenous (IV) drip of saline to keep you hydrated. This means there is an opening for the medical staff to administer any medications quickly, which can be very important during the operation. When you are otherwise ready you will be put under general anaesthesia and, once the anaesthetic has been injected, you will quickly lose consciousness.

Cervicoplasty, Platysmaplasty, Corset Platysmaplasty, Purse-String Platysmaplasty & Hammock Platysmaplasty

There are two techniques used for a neck lift: one being a cervicoplasty, the other being a platysmaplasty. The former involves the removal of loose and sagging skin whereas the latter involves the tightening of the neck’s muscles. The cervicoplasty is essential to a neck lift, whilst the platysmaplasty is optional depending on your needs.

To begin with, a small incision is made behind the ears. This is for the cervicoplasty procedure. If a platysmaplasty is also being performed, usually another small incision is made under the chin. This is so the slack neck muscles can be dealt with.  In general terms, a platysmaplasty is the removal of muscle and then the suturing together again at the front of the neck. This is called a realignment of the muscle sheet; however, with the platysmaplasty there are different techniques and their use depends on the type of body you have and what your desires are. For example, there is the corset platysmaplasty which is particularly useful for people with necklines in which skin hangs off slack muscle. This is known as banding. In this procedure the muscles are sutured in a continuous line along the front of the neck leading down towards the collarbone.  By doing this a muscle sheet is created. This means the muscle is made stronger and so it will take longer in returning to its previous state. Other techniques include the purse-string platysmaplasty, a procedure that is particularly suitable for males due to the structure of the male neck, and the hammock platysmaplasty, which uses mesh or Alloderm as a “hammock” to keep the neck tight.

Additional Procedures & Suturing

When the muscles have been sutured, the skin is then trimmed, repositioned on the neck, and then sutured – this is part of the cervicoplasty. Before this happens though, any other procedures, such as liposuction or Botox, will need to be completed before the closing of the incisions. Such procedures will increase the length of the surgery; but a simple neck lift, with no complications, will take two to three hours to complete.

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