Overview
Many neck lift techniques use incisions around the ear, which can leave visible scars. The authors describe an anterior neck technique that avoids them. Between 2019 and 2024, 85 patients (67 women, 18 men, aged 25-68) had the procedure with at least 12 months of follow-up.
Findings
- 85 patients: 67 women, 18 men; age range 25-68 years; minimum follow-up 12 months.
- Steps: wide anterior skin release, liposuction above the platysma, selective fat removal below the platysma, partial transverse platysma myotomy at the hyoid, midline platysma plication forming a corset limited to the submandibular region, and posterior skin redistribution without periauricular excision.
- Significant improvement in jawline definition, cervicomandibular angle and vertical neck length.
- 3 seromas, treated with needle aspiration.
- 3 transient mental nerve paresthesias, fully recovered within weeks.
- No reoperations.
- Mean patient satisfaction 4.5 out of 5.
- Level of evidence: V.
What it means for a patient
- For people who want only the neck treated, this approach avoids scars around the ears.
- Complications were few and temporary in this series: fluid collections drained with a needle and short-lived chin numbness.
- The authors state it does not replace a cervicofacial lift, and it keeps the option of later facial surgery.
- Limits: one group's series, level V evidence, no comparison group, and the abstract does not say how improvement was measured.
Why this paper matters
It describes a standardized anterior neck lift for selected patients who want neck rejuvenation without periauricular scars. It reports low morbidity in 85 patients followed at least 12 months.
Terms
- Periauricular: around the ear.
- Platysma: the thin muscle sheet of the neck.
- Transverse platysma myotomy: a cut across the platysma muscle.
- Platysmal corset: stitching the platysma edges together in the midline to tighten the neck.
- Supraplatysmal and subplatysmal: above and below the platysma muscle.
- Cervicomandibular angle: the angle between the neck and the jawline.
- Mental nerve paresthesia: altered feeling or numbness of the chin and lower lip.
- Seroma: a pocket of clear fluid under the skin.