There are two procedures commonly referred to as necklifts: 1. submental incision, tightening of the muscle, removal of fat. 2. incision behind the ear into the hairline to attempt to tighten the neck. Often advertised as an alternative to a full facelift that is somehow beneficial because it can be performed under local anesthesia and is cheap. Patients getting only a minimal necklift often pay $4000. You can see from this blog how satisfied many of them were with their results... not very. The reason for this is simple: the patients expected facelift results (clean necks and well sculpted jawlines) from a mini-lift. Other sources of dissatisfaction are the great amount of pain they experienced because the procedure was performed under local anesthesia only, or the distorted appearance their faces now have. Technically, a neck only lift is usually considered to be a procedure that is performed from incisions behind the ear and usually back into the hairline. The neck itself usually benefits somewhat. Because of the practitioners who often perform this procedure, the undermining is usually minimal and the scars are often unsatisfactory because they are closed under tension. The jowls benefit minimally, because the incision stops at the earlobe. The face itself does not benefit at all. Some physicians refer to a necklift as a procedure in which an under the chin incision is made and liposuction along with some type of platysmaplasty (tightening of the platysma muscle), a wider, interlacing procedure for the submental area than the conventional corset platysmaplasty. Costs vary greatly, but are often in the $7000 area including operating room expenses. Our version of this procedure is the Neck-Lace. This procedure is best for patients with a "bull neck" who don't have a lot of looseness in their face. It does nothing to tighten the face and is not an alternative to a facelift. It is often performed in our practice in patients who have already had liposuction under their chins for a "double chin" who were unhappy, or as the first step in a face and necklift. Although it is sometimes beneficial to perform a necklift alone in revision facelift surgery, we almost never perform the procedure alone because of the disparity it creates between the lower face (tight), jowls (minimal effect) and upper face (no tightening), resulting in a "strange" appearance. An experienced facelift surgeon is technically able to hide incisions well. Therefore most experienced facelift surgeons will suggest to their patients to rejuvenate the entire face harmoniously, not just the upper face alone, or just the neck alone. Costs for an accomplished facelift surgeon performing a face and necklift usually run $15,000 and up including operating room in an accredited facility or hospital and a board certified anesthesiologist. The good news for the necklift patients who are unhappy, is that it is almost always possible to revise their lifts, hide their scars, revise their hairlines and earlobes, and create a fresh rejuvenated appearance while restoring normal facial architecture.