Tighter NeckA beautiful and youthful looking face must be accompanied by a youthful neck for harmony. Several factors cause neck aging, including fatty bulges, loose skin, sagging tissues and 'turkey-neck' bands. Each of these in turn is targeted during the Tighter Neck programme, restoring a younger looking neck without invasive surgery or significant downtime.Step 1: Fat reductionIf there are significant bulges of fat under the chin, obscuring the jawline definition, this is first reduced and sculpted using either Lipodissolve injections or VASER Liposelection. Lipodissolve requires a few treatments at 8-week intervals and involves multiple injections directly into the fat. Swelling and redness are normal sequelae that resolve in a few days. Liposelection is a quicker alternative for larger fatty deposits and is performed under local anaesthesia in one procedure. Ultrasound selectively destroys fat before removal through gentle suction. A compression garment must be worn afterwards for 4 days.Step 1b: Scarless Neck LiftingFor mild to moderate drooping of neck tissue, either after fat reduction or on its own, a Serdev thread lift is a means of lifting using special threads under local anaesthesia. Only tiny punctures are made in the neck and behind the ear during the procedure. The area is lifted immediately and you can return to your normal activities straight away. Unlike some other thread lift techniques, this technique anchors touch tissue (SMAS) to a stable structure (the lining of the bone behind the ear) to provide a more secure lift. Step 2: Titan Skin TighteningWhilst the Serdev scarless thread lift addresses falling tissues by lifting the layer above the muscle (SMAS), it does not specifically target the entire skin surface, which is often lax, crepy or beginning to lose tightness. Titan uses advanced infrared light technology to heat the collagen in the dermis of the skin, helping to tighten skin by two means. Firstly, as the collagen in the deeper layers of skin are heated, they contract and tighten, providing an immediate tightening effect. Secondly, heat from the focused infrared light stimulates fibroblast cells in the skin to produce more collagen. New collagen is laid down in the skin over a number of months, improving the tightening effect gradually and for up to 6 months following the course of treatments. Titan can begin 2 weeks after the Serdev thread lift, and three treatments are usually performed at one-month intervals. During the Titan procedure surges of heat are felt that come and go, and there is usually nothing more than a little redness afterwards that fades away in about an hour.Step 3: 'Turkey Neck' BandsFor fine-tuning of the neck area, if there are vertical neck bands, these can be treated and softened by a few small muscle-relaxing injections directly into the thin muscle that cause them, the platysma. The results begin 3 days after the treatment and last 3-6 months, after which the injections can safely be repeated. |
