Why do some people have sutures in the front of their ears when they have a neck lift and others do not?

If the neck work can be done by tightening the platysma muscle with an incision under the chin, and a small incision behind the ear to take up a bit of extra neck skin or place a suspension suture, then no incision in front of the ear is needed.However, often there is laxity of neck and jowl skin as well, or significant laxity of the platysma. Unless the exposure of the underlying tissues of the lower face is adequate, the results will suffer greatly.  An incision in front of the ear as well, gives access to the entire lower face and neck to do whatever needs to be done.

Great question. You know, the boundary between a formal "neck lift" and a "facelift" can be blurry.  Some people may tell you they had a neck lift but in fact had a neck lift with some form of a facelift. It all depends on the desired result you hope to achieve as well as the extent of the problem you are dealing with. If you do a standard neck lift, you often get a scar behind the ear and maby under the chin. However, if you have some jowling you will need the sutures in front of the ear as this is a form of a facelift. When deciding on what procedure is best, here at my Facial Plastic Surgery clinic in Ottawa, Canada i make sure patients understand what the effect will be and what is required to achieve their effect. If you are interested in rejuvenating your neck and/or face, i suggest you speak to a qualified surgeon in your area to determine what the best option is for you.Dr. James P. BonaparteOtolaryngology  - Head and Neck SurgeryFacial Plastic and Reconstructive SurgeryOttawa, Ontario, Canada

A platysmaplasty (under chin incision) is most commonly done for turkey necks and cost only $5500 under local where a lower face jawline and neck lift run around $8800 on special under local but there is more tightening and there are sutures in the ear as well as behind. sincerely, David Hansen,MD

"Neck lift" is a collective term that can be used to describe a number of very different procedures. The least invasive option involves removal of excess fat and tightening of the neck muscles through a short (1-1.5 inch) incision under the chin.  No additional incisions in front or behind the ears is made.  Downside of this approach is that the skin of the neck may not fully tighten and some laxity will remain. The next option involves tightening of the neck muscles and partial removal of the excess skin through incisions that are hidden behind the ears. This variant of the neck lift can significantly improve neck contour and requires only partial incisions that, once healed, are quite hard to notice. The most complete (and the most effective option) is a neck lift in combination with a facelift. With this option you can get the best and most lasting results at the expense of a somewhat bigger procedure and slightly longer incision lines that are placed in front and behind the ears. Hope this helps,Dr. Konstantin

Sutures in front of ear or not. If a patient is having only the neck lifted then there r no sutures in front of the ear. However if they are having a facelift to get rid of jowls and excess skin then they have stitches in front of the ear( or as I have done for 35 years INSIDE THE EAR )so there is no scar in front of the ear.