My anterior platysma muscle is separating. My doctor recommends repairing the muscle with no lift. What are the risks?

There are many risks that you should know about before committing to platysmaplasty surgery. They include bleeding, infection, numbness and other nerve damage, scaring etc. At the end, it will be all about the esthetic outcome which you will judge not much earlier than 6 months after the procedure. 

This is a common question and the recommendations are very specific to the individual patient and anatomy. Without photographs or more information specific recommendations only general comments are possible. If you have a fair bit of fatty tissue in the neck simple removing that with liposculpture or liposuction will frequently create a better neck profile.  Suturing the muscle as recommended will improve the banding also. If you have jowls as well they won't be worse from this procedure but perhaps by comparison be more obvious. Just from your description we would probably recommend a neck lift as shown in the reference below. The recommendations you have been given may be reasonable.

Thank you for your question about #necklift.



Pictures would be useful if you could.



I consider neck procedures in 3 levels: liposuction alone,
liposuction and anterior muscle repair (anterior platysmaplasty) and
liposuction, muscle repair and a neck-muscle lift with posterior ear incisions.

So if jowling is not significant for now, level 1 and 2 might be options for you with a small incision.  Level 3 will improve 50% the jowls.

Best way to improve the jowlings is to lengthen the neck
lift incision and convert it into a neck + facelift.



An in-person assessment would be helpful with a
board-certified plastic surgeon.



All the best,



#DrMarcDuPere, #Toronto #plasticsurgeon