Brilliant Result in Complex Revision Necklift

In January 2024 I had a revision necklift done by Dr. William Townley which included reduction of the submandibular glands and digastric muscles. The primary surgery had been done in late 2020 by a very expensive, supposedly top name surgeon. I learned the hard way about the importance of doing thorough research and understanding the baffling GMC register and medical qualification terms. My conclusion: if your UK surgeon isn't on the GMC 'specialist' register and hasn't spent many years working as a consultant in the NHS, he's not in the premier league for skill and experience. William Townley is right up there with the most highly qualified plastic surgeons in the world.

I spent 2 years trying to work out why my original necklift (done at the same time as a deep plane face lift) had deteriorated so fast and searching for solutions. It was the surgeon's failure to address the overgrown submandibular glands and digastric muscles. The decision to have a revision was complicated by the fact the primary surgery had resulted in giving me a very severe deep surgical infection - cellulitis that lasted 7 weeks. To make matters worse, the original surgeon had refused to admit there had been an infection (claiming it was a 'suture reaction') and told me not to attempt to do any kind of post-op treatment to assist in healing - really bad advice that resulted in permanent discomfort due to fibrosis from extensive (untreated) scar tissue. This also made revision surgery more challenging with a high risk of being left with irregular contours. I consulted several top international surgeons. William was the only one who came up with a back-up plan for dealing with the risk the platysma tissue would be so full of holes and damaged (from the prior infection) that the revision would leave me with irregular contours. He ordered some ADM material to be available on the day of surgery so that it could be used to patch up the damaged tissue planes if necessary. This is not standard cosmetic surgery. It's reconstruction work and the ADM material has to be discarded if not used on the day. No other surgeon took the time and care to think of this and offer it to me as a back-up option. On the day, William managed to do the surgery without using it and got a fantastically smooth result and a achieved a surprisingly big lift on my neck. My whole jawline contour is much sharper and younger looking now. It has improved the whole look of my lower face.

I also notice that the incision scars have healed much better this time round. I don't know if that's due to the meticulous after-care instructions on how to optimize incision healing or due to the superior surgical skills, or both. The prior infection did not have an impact on the incision lines, so it's nothing to do with that. The original surgeon told me not to try any kind of treatment on the incision scars, whereas I got letters and laminated cards with instructions for daily scar treatment from William along with a goodie bag of products to help when I left the hospital. I can hardly even find William's incision under my chin now, whereas the original incision line is quite obvious (it was too far forward to be reused by William). The fibrosis induced discomfort has also been alleviated by the re-draping of the tissue planes. I did a lot of treatments on my neck in the months prior to the revision surgery to soften the scar tissue and reduce the discomfort, but the surgery also helped.

The whole experience has been amazing. William's support staff are lovely and have been great with the tips for after care too. I've also started having a bit of botox on my face for the first time in my life and can highly recommend Charlotte Ponsaing who works with William on skin care and non-surgical treatments.

William has permission to share my BEFORE / AFTER photos with his patients in consultations and he posted the 2 months results on his Instagram.

I have attached my Before /After photos. The 'afters' were taken 6 months post the revision necklift surgery. I was left with bulges under my chin from the primary surgery done by a different surgeon in 2020. The right side was the worst because the enlarged submandibular gland on my right side had not been reduced in the primary surgery. William also reduced the glands and the very lax digastric muscles. He also tightened up the platysma muscle and gave me a surprising big necklift even though I'd already had that done in 2020. I'm very pleased with the sharper, cleaner jawline and more lifted neck. I'm posting this update in October 2024 - 10 months after my revision surgery with William. The surgery result is holding up very well. No regrets about having this revision done.