What it means for a patient
- A full neck is often caused by tissue under the neck muscle, not only by fat under the skin. In this series most removed volume came from below the muscle.
- A deep neck lift can include removing deep fat, reducing the saliva glands, and trimming or tightening small neck muscles.
- Ask your surgeon which layers of your neck cause the fullness and which layers they plan to treat.
- The abstract reports volumes removed but not patient outcomes or complications.
Why this paper matters
It gives measured volumes for each structure removed in deep neck lift surgery. The author states this may help surgeons plan neck procedures.
Overview
Some patients have more volume in the front of the neck than the jawline can contain, and a neck lift may then need tissue reduction and repositioning of the hyoid bone. The author measured how often each deep neck maneuver was done and how much tissue each removed. Removed tissue from 152 deep cervicoplasty patients was measured by volume displacement.
Findings
- 152 patients had deep cervicoplasty; volume measured by volume displacement.
- Mean total volume removed above and below the platysma: 22.3 cm3.
- Tissue below the platysma made up 73% of the total and was reduced in all 152 patients.
- Deep fat: reduced in 96% of patients, mean 7 cm3.
- Submandibular gland: reduced in 76%, mean 6.5 cm3.
- Anterior digastric muscle: reduced in 70%, mean 1.8 cm3.
- Perihyoid fascia: reduced in 32%, mean under 1 cm3.
- Mylohyoid muscle: reduced in 14%, mean under 1 cm3.
- Anterior digastric muscles were plicated to reposition the hyoid in 34% of cases.
- Fat above the platysma: reduced by 6.3 cm3 in 40% of patients.
Terms
- Deep cervicoplasty: a neck lift that treats structures below the platysma muscle.
- Platysma: the thin muscle over the front of the neck.
- Supraplatysmal / subplatysmal: above or below the platysma muscle.
- Submandibular gland: a saliva gland under each side of the jaw.
- Anterior digastric muscle: a small muscle under the chin running from the jaw to the hyoid bone.
- Hyoid: a small U-shaped bone high in the front of the neck.
- Plication: folding and stitching tissue to tighten it.
- Volume displacement: measuring a specimen's volume by the amount of liquid it moves.