What Do I Do with Sagging Skin After Chin Lipo?

   Sometimes, the skin needs to addressed in another manner such as face and neck lift or neck lift alone or skin removal from under the chin.   Hard to say without a picture.  Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

Residual loose skin is a risk of having isolated luposuction under the chin. When one performs liposuction, there is the hope that the skin will tighten to cover the residual space that has been created with the fat removal, and unfortunaltely in some people, the skin does not tighten and residual laxity remains. Generally speaking, individuals with increased skin elasticity and more advanced age are more at risk for this occurring. Here are the options to correct the problem from my experience:

 

1. One can use a variety of skin tightening devices post liposuction to get further skin contraction. Depending on the extent of laxity, many devices can help achieve a better neck contour after liposuction. Practioners have different experience using devices in this space, and it is important for you to inquire about which devices are available in the practice you choose.  

2. One can repeat the lipsosuction using advanced liposuction. One option if there is continued residual fat is to redo the procedure with technology like laser liposuction to gain more skin tightening. In many cases these newer advanced liposuction systems can achieve skin contour results much better than traditional liposuction.

3. One can perform a skin tightening procedure under the neck to excise the skin. There are a variety of procedures that can be done from simple platysmalplasty to T-neck operations. Here, the physician experience is very important as one may trade one problem for another if this correction is done improperly.

4. Finally, one can fix the problem with a complete lower facelift. This option is very reasonable to correct these types of problems in most patients. Here, the neck is pulled laterally and the excess skin is contoured to the natural jaw line.

 

Hope this helps. Good luck!!