Should I Have a Face Lift or Lipo to Correct Double Chin?

Patients with sagging necks are very poor candidates for liposuction.  I would recommend a facelift, platysmaplasty, and liposuction at a minimum.

Both face lift surgery and neck liposuction are good procedures for appropriate patients seeking to treat double chin or signs of facial aging. The decision on which cosmetic surgery to perform is based on a balance of many factors including recovery time, potential results, potential complications, and out-of-pocket cost. Based on your single photograph alone, combined face lift with neck liposuction may give you the maximum cosmetic results. Speak with a plastic surgeon specializing in face lifts to help determine appropriate options for you.

From the photo you have jowling as well as a double chin. you will have a better result if you have a full facelift by an experienced facelift surgeon.

The picture is helpful but it isn't a close-up and doesn't include the lateral view which is important. Even more important is being able to examine the patient personally and assess the quality of the skin, especially the elastic tone. This is affected quite a bit by age and menopausal status. For a woman up to her late 40's, often lipo with immediate Thermage for skin toning is an option, but beyond that a facelift procedure is most often the best choice. Lipo alone would be considered primarily for patients in their 30's or younger.

Generally speaking if you are under 45 and have isolated fat of your chin area, you can get by with liposuction alone. However, if you are older and if you "snap" the skin and it doesn't immediately go back, you most likely will require removal of the excess skin via a lifting procedure at the same time. It is hard to tell from the frontal view alone whether you need the minilift as well. I hope this information helps.

Hello Fernie,

Thank you for the question and the photo.  A side view of your face and neck would be ideal to evaluate what treatment would be best.  In general, neck fullness can be from fat, laxity, small chin, or gland growth.  Depending on what the source of the fullness is the treatment can tailored to suit your goals.

All the best,

Dr. Remus Repta

Fernie, 

 

Good luck with your decision.  Without a direct exam, it is difficult to give you a perfect answer, but I suspect that you would ultimately be unhappy with liposuction alone.  I think you would be most happy with a full facelift, neck lift and either liposuction of the neck or direct excision of the fat in the neck. 

 

Most men know  to tread carefully when asked by a woman to guess her age, give his opinion if she gained weight or if she may need a Facelift. This is one of those occasions.

Although a photo is no match to a physical examination, your single frontal photograph hints at a lot of neck fat some of which is under the platysma muscle and skin that is unlikely to snap back even if all this neck fat could be magically removed. Your face demonstrates facial descent with deepening nose to mouth (Nasolabial) folds with squaring (loss of youthful tapering) of the lower face and jowl creation. There is increase in the height of the lower lid (and even though hidden by the rims of the glasses you probably have pronounced tear Trough lines).

The procedure that would be best to reverse most of these changes would be a Facelift, Neck lift with open liposuction of the neck.  Liposuction by itself will be a disappointment.

Dr. Aldea

At a minimum, you are going to need a neck lift to address the double chin area, not simple liposuction. There is fat underneath the platysma muscle, which cannot be removed with traditional liposuction. The muscles will need to be tightened to give a nice jawline and neck contour. A mini facelift does not then address the neck whatsoever. If you have excess skin, you will need more than a neck lift. You will need a full face/neck lift. Most women over 55 years of age need a full face/neck lift, not the neck only.

   Looking at your picture I would say you absolutely need to have submental ( chin/neck ) liposuction. You will also probably need a necklift to keep the skin from hanging as it is not likely to shrink up adequately after the liposuction. Whether you want a facelift rather than a necklift has to do with the need to correct your jowls and cheek area. Most people need facial surgery ( neck surgery ) along with any neck suctioning which in itself cannot usually correct neck problems alone. Both proceedures can be done together under local anesthesia in the office in under 2 hours very safely and comfortably