What Do I Do with Sagging Skin After Chin Lipo?

Depending on how long it's been after your procedure and how much sagging skin you have will help determine what options are best for you. Skin retraction can take months and requires patience. Depending on the amount of loose skin, your age, anatomy and genetics, additional treatment with a non-surgical skin tightening procedure such as ultherapy might be necessary. In addition, depending on several factors, a face and neck lift might be the best option. Consult with your physician who is most familiar with your case or a board certified facial plastic surgeon to see what options are right for you.

Hello and thank-you for your question.Liposuction of the chin and neck is an excellent option for correcting a double chin,  An ideal candidate has localized fat and good skin elasticity.  When there is looseness of the skin, bands of the platysmal muscle may be more noticeable and skin laxity may worsen with liposuction alone.  You may also consider Ultherapy as a non-invasive approach to improve the laxity. A neck lift may be a better option.   I would recommend a consultation with a plastic surgeon who is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery with extensive experience in facial and neck rejuvenation.Best of Luck!Andrew Lyos MD, FACS

   Sometimes, the skin needs to addressed in another manner such as face and neck lift or neck lift alone or skin removal from under the chin.   Hard to say without a picture.  Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

Residual loose skin is a risk of having isolated luposuction under the chin. When one performs liposuction, there is the hope that the skin will tighten to cover the residual space that has been created with the fat removal, and unfortunaltely in some people, the skin does not tighten and residual laxity remains. Generally speaking, individuals with increased skin elasticity and more advanced age are more at risk for this occurring. Here are the options to correct the problem from my experience:

 

1. One can use a variety of skin tightening devices post liposuction to get further skin contraction. Depending on the extent of laxity, many devices can help achieve a better neck contour after liposuction. Practioners have different experience using devices in this space, and it is important for you to inquire about which devices are available in the practice you choose.  

2. One can repeat the lipsosuction using advanced liposuction. One option if there is continued residual fat is to redo the procedure with technology like laser liposuction to gain more skin tightening. In many cases these newer advanced liposuction systems can achieve skin contour results much better than traditional liposuction.

3. One can perform a skin tightening procedure under the neck to excise the skin. There are a variety of procedures that can be done from simple platysmalplasty to T-neck operations. Here, the physician experience is very important as one may trade one problem for another if this correction is done improperly.

4. Finally, one can fix the problem with a complete lower facelift. This option is very reasonable to correct these types of problems in most patients. Here, the neck is pulled laterally and the excess skin is contoured to the natural jaw line.

 

Hope this helps. Good luck!!

The best candidates for having chin lipo performed exclusively are the patients who have great skin elasticity. If the elasticity is not as good as it could be, you may be left with some sagging skin following the procedure. Under these circumstances, a facelift and/or neck lift may be necessary to help with the loose skin. If you are experiencing this issue, I would recommend a consultation with a board certified facial plastic surgeon to help determine how you may improve the appearance of any loose skin following chin lipo. There are some skin tightening procedures available, but they are typically not as effective as a surgical correction. Thank you and I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask me any specific questions, I would be happy to answer them for you!

Liposuction of the neck is a very effective way to reduce the fullness under the chin. However if there is significant skin laxity there may be excess skin that over time will not retract. If this excess skin remains and does not improve, a mini face lift or a neck lift may bee needed.

Some people are not great candidate for neck suction alone.  Some require some type of neck lift to give them the results they are looking for. This should have been discussed prior to surgery.

What happens if you get sagging skin after chin liposuction? Well ideally that possibility should be considered by your surgeon before the surgery.  If the possibility exists, then a plan for possible neck lift should be discussed. 

 

If its too late and you already had the neck liposuction and there is loose skin, then the only salvage option is to do a neck lift. This will tighten the skin. I would advise waiting at least 3 months after liposuction before embarking upon more surgery. 

Liposuction is the most definitive way to reduce fat under the chin, but there are circumstances when doing liposuction isn't a good idea. If the skin is already significantly loose before liposuction, lipo alone or even laser liposuction, may not make the area look better if there isn't enough skin tightening.

Consider a specific skin tightening procedure either as a substitute for liposuction, or in addition to liposuction. There are some good options, such as radiofrequency tightening. We've added Exilis radiofrequency skin tightening for our patients either alone, or in addition to liposuction.

More information would be very helpful including as series of photos and how long ago you had your surgery. Generally speaking, liposuction removes fat but does not remove any skin.  Therefore whatever excess skin you have remains.  In some people it retracts and tightens and results can be impressive.  In others, the skin will not tighten enough for a nice outcome due to the amount and/or quality of the skin itself. When this surgery is done on the right candidate, results are immediate and improve over a time of about 3-6 months. If you are past 6 months and you still have excess or sagging skin, you may need a neck lift.