Male Cosmetic Surgery-The Male Neck

As we’ve mentioned before men occasionally feel left out in the wilderness when they look for information about their cosmetic concerns. We can approach some male cosmetic issues a bit differently than women. When it comes to men’s necks the cup is often half full rather than half empty for men often only want a more subtle improvement compared to many female patients. Therefore we have more options for many of our male patients. Women will focus on changes in their necks much earlier than men and also desire a greater degree of change if neck laxity is significant. Let’s walk through some of the main things we need to pay attention to in the neck.
First is skin quality and certainly men having beards, more ruddy complexions, and often moderate sun damage to their necks. We absolutely suggest that the patients consider skin care, photo facials with our “laser” devices; but clearly men aren’t going to necessarily be as concerned about color change or skin texture as women often are. Our male patients might choose to be less aggressive about their appearance of the skin, but they do care about a chubby neck, lots of loose skin, and soft chins.

Many of our male patients may have a family trend to fat deposits in the neck. These patients may do fabulously with simple liposuction of the neck under local anesthesia. A fatty neck makes us loose the masculine definition of our chin and jawline adjust getting rid of some of these fat deposits can take years off our appearance as well as make us look more fit and energetic. On occasion it may be beneficial to do a chin implant at the same time if the chin is truly under projecting. There is always the chance that the skin might be a bit more lax after liposuction, but men have more tolerance to a little laxity compared to many female patients. So for the same degree of neck fat the female patient may want a neck lift also where the male patient may be delighted with just a slimmer neck.
A nice adjunct we have in the office to tighten neck skin is the truSculpt™ radiofrequency device. To learn more about the truSculpt™ look at our noninvasive body contouring blog. In brief the radiofrequency energy deep heats the tissue which can remove more fat as well as get the skin to tighten more. Of course if guys have a really lax neck we need to tighten that skin surgically with a neck lift. One aspect of neck lifting we can often offer men that is rarely used in female patients is direct excision of the neck skin in the mid line. The direct excision approach to skin typically can be done with local anesthesia and a technique of zigzagging the scar with what is called a Z-plasty or a W-plasty. Since men do have thicker ruddier skin and beards we can hide the direct excision scars fairly well, while women wouldn’t look quietly as elegant with the direct approach to that central skin.
Each guy I see in the office has a different threshold for how youthful they wish to look. Some men want major changes, some men want a more subtle adjustment is the jaw and neck lift. The key is we will listen and suggest options that best fit the result you are looking for.