What can I do to achieve a more defined jaw, neck, and chin area? 27 y/o (photos)

Morpheus 8 is a non-invasive skin and soft tissue tightening treatment that is consistently amazing in our patients. We use the Morpheus to exact fractional induced RF into the skin or tissue in order to tighten collagen and stimulate contraction of the tissue. For acne scars, it is quite useful to build collagen in patients who have atrophic scars but is not very productive for ice-pick scars which require TCA Cross. For tissue tightening, Morpheus is ideal for the face and neck and we often combine it with CO2 laser or Ultherapy to further enhance results. Chemical peels and skin resurfacing should be done at least 5 to 7 days after, but can be performed earlier, depending on treatment severity. Avoid exfoliating skin treatments before Morpheus and expect a period of 2-4 weeks for skin contraction to set in.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

Thank you for your enquiry and sharing your photographs.

The methods to reduce the volume in the area of concern to our split between techniques that go over the above the platysma muscles and under the skin (liposuction) and techniques to go both over the platysma muscles and under the platysma muscles (anterior neck lift or short scar neck lift).

Since there is no skin excess, there is no need for skin tightening. The volume however is generated to a lesser extent by fatty tissue and to a higher extent by the volume of the digastric muscles and lower part of the submandibular glands.

Injections that dissolve fatty tissue can also go deep to the platysma and will affect and the fatty tissue present there.

In essence, the goal of intervention would be to achieve a fairly constant girth of the front half of the neck between the sternum and the jawline and it would not be possible to achieve it purely from fatty tissue removal. Liposuction is a smaller interval with good expectations of improvement. It has however its limitations and if carried out more aggressively to improve the results it can lead to wrinkling of the skin under the chin as the fatty tissue under the skin is important to preserve smooth contours in particular in women.

Dear kld7941,
it is hard to tell for sure without an examination. Based on your photo, it looks like you would benefit form chin lipo. If you are considering surgery, I would suggest you consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. Only after a thorough examination, you will get more information and recommendations.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

In your case, chin and jawline liposuction should give you an improved definition and contour. Sometimes a platysmaplasty is needed to improve the cervical mental angle but start with simple liposuction.

For a more defined jawline to strengthen your profile (and help prevent the dreaded jawline "jowl" sagging), we use injectable fillers like Revanesse Versa - a filler known to limit swelling and give subtle, soft enhancements - or Radiesse. Using a cannula to limit pain and swelling, we inject on the bone in strategic points to get more lift and shaping, resulting in a more contoured lower face and defined, structured jawline. I would suggest getting a formal evaluation with a facial sculpting expert. Best, Dr. Emer

From the one limited photograph, you care to have a recessive chin profile and fat deposits in the neck located both above and below the platysma muscle in the neck. Consider placement of a chin implant to augment the chin forward for better structural support for the soft tissue in the neck. Liposuction can only accomplish removal of fat deposits above the muscle which won't be very effective for you. Consider a surgical neck lift to remove the compartment of fat underneath the muscle which also includes platysma plasty. No skin removal is required.

Based on the 1 posted photo I recommend My Elevate neck suture with sub chin lipo and Y-Lift HA injections along jaw line. Fee $8,000. Best to virtual consult with...

When choosing a treatment it’s important to recognize what the primary problem or correct diagnosis is. in your case you will have a normal fat distribution and are not obese. you’re fat distribution is not causing the problem and while liposuction can improve the contour is not the primary reason why you’re neck looks the way it does. problems in this area are almost exclusively related to the size and shape of the mandible. changing the mandible ends up being complex and most people are looking for a softer gentler solution. there’s nothing wrong with getting liposuction but recognize that it will not alter how your platysma muscle drips the neck and that is related to the shape and contour of your mandible. well done Liposuction can help define the jaw line and reduce a double chin to some degree. this is not a bottle of clay where you just remove more and more to get a better and better result.
There will be inherent limitations with any treatment that isn’t addressing the primary problem.
As long as you understand that I think you’re fine to start consulting board-certified plastic surgeons for chin and neck liposuction.
While it’s a fairly straightforward procedure results definitely vary and there’s a very real learning curve for doing quality liposuction whether it’s on the body or the face.
To get the best potential outcome you need to really put in a solid effort of properly vetting a number of plastic surgeons to find the right provider.
Well it may seem tempting and convenient I recommend avoiding attempting to do this using the Internet. I also recommend patients avoid virtual consultations whenever possible.
To vet your provider properly you need to meet with them in person and during the consultation ask the provider to open up there before and after portfolio and show you the entire collection or at least as many pictures as they are willing to.
Being shown a handful of sample pictures which most likely represent the best results of the providers career is totally insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results will look like.
Patients are also not trained in assessing individuals for the procedure. an individual who is an excellent candidate is going to have a remarkably better outcome than someone who wasn’t that great of a candidate. Unless you’re capable of determining candidacy it’s hard to judge outcomes. some look better than others but is that because the procedure was done better or because the patient was a better candidate?
During the consultation ask providers to show as many pictures as possible of patients who have similar facial characteristics to your own. This means similar amount of body fat similar age and ideally similar shape mandible.
Asked the provider to show examples of excellent outcomes, average outcomes and less than outcomes.
Ask them how often they do revisions and if they’ve had any patients who’ve had revisions recently and if you can see pictures of what those patients look like.
An experience provider should have no difficulty showing you at least 50 sets of before and after pictures of commonly performed procedures and I would say chin and neck liposuction is one of them.
Older individuals do you far better with a facelift than Liposuction. A typical cut off in my practice is around age 50.
The main thing to consider is that soft tissue manipulation can only give a partial improvement when the primary problem is based on skeletal structure.
If you want to get an assessment based on the facial skeletal structure then consult with oral surgeons who tend to be more bone oriented.
I don’t think your situation warrants oral surgery but they often are better and understanding the primary problem since plastic surgeons generally tend to be soft tissue oriented.
Facial soft tissue coverage tends to be very consistent and the reason individual people look different as usually because of their bone structure. it’s important to recognize that both bone and soft tissues contribute to the big picture.
My best recommendation for you is to have more consultations than you think are necessary and during each consultation push providers to open up their portfolio and start showing you as many pictures as they’re willing to.
You really need to get an idea of what the average results look like in the hands of each provider to minimize the chance of an unhappy outcome.
Liposuction is permanent and irreversible.
When done poorly it can leave people disfigured.
Everybody puts their best foot forward and that’s human nature but you really need to see what typical results look like rather than the best of their career.
When in doubt slow down and schedule more consultations.
I don’t know how many consultations is needed to find the right provider. It depends a little bit simply on lock or how many providers are in your community.
Start with five and schedule more if needed.
I recognize this is pretty labor-intensive and a big commitment but for some thing that’s going to change your face permanently and irreversibly I would say it’s worth it.
One last thing. Don’t let doctors try to sell you on equipment.
Any talented doctor can do a good job for you with any brand of Liposuction Equipment. The equipment makes very little difference but those who recently invested large sums of money in some expensive machine tend to over emphasize the importance of the device. this may include devices such as Renuvion, J plasma, facetite, VASER or power assisted Liposuction.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD