Overview
Standard neck contouring does not reliably make a short neck look longer. The authors reviewed 167 consecutive patients who had a deep-plane facelift with this neck lift between May 2023 and June 2024. They analyzed the 95 who met the Auersvald short-neck criterion, a neck-clavicle distance of 24% or less of vertex-clavicle height.
Findings
- 167 consecutive patients; 95 met the short-neck criterion and were analyzed.
- Procedure: deep neck reduction, hyoid fasciotomy, complete platysma transection, and separate repositioning of the upper and lower platysma segments.
- Mean postoperative-to-preoperative anterior neck length ratio: 2.49 ± 0.11, a significant increase in apparent neck length (p < 0.001).
- All patients showed improved neck contour.
- FACE-Q: 94.7% reported being very satisfied.
- Blinded evaluators reported a mean perceived age reduction of 16 years.
- Complications: transient neuropraxia 4.3%, sialoma 3.1%.
- No permanent sequelae.
What it means for a patient
- For people with a short neck, this deep neck lift aims to make the neck look longer as well as more defined.
- Nearly all patients in this series were very satisfied, and raters judged them 16 years younger on average.
- About 4 in 100 had a temporary nerve problem and about 3 in 100 had a saliva collection; none were permanent.
- Limits: one retrospective series, done together with a deep-plane facelift, no comparison group, and follow-up length not stated in the abstract.
Why this paper matters
It addresses neck length, a feature standard neck lifts do not reliably change, using a defined short-neck criterion. It reports measured lengthening, satisfaction and complication rates in 95 patients.
Terms
- Platysma transection: cutting across the platysma, the thin muscle sheet of the neck.
- Hyoid fasciotomy: releasing the tissue layer at the hyoid, the small bone above the voice box.
- Deep neck reduction: removing or reducing structures beneath the platysma to slim the neck.
- Cervicomental angle: the angle between the neck and the underside of the chin.
- Neuropraxia: a temporary nerve injury.
- Sialoma: a collection of saliva under the skin.
- FACE-Q: a standard questionnaire for patient-reported results of facial procedures.
- Auersvald criterion: a measure defining a short neck as a neck-clavicle distance of 24% or less of vertex-clavicle height.