You've probably seen someone whose face looks young but neck is riddled with wrinkles and age spots. Neck skin tends to be thin and dry, plus loses elasticity as we age. But there are things you can do to keep—or renew—its youthful appearance.
Lifestyle Changes
A few minor changes to your daily routine can help you avoid neck aging issues later on:
- Treat it like an extension of your face. Extend your cleansing and moisturizing routine to your neck.
- Protect it from the sun. It's easy to forget putting sunscreen on our neck - especially during everyday activities. But it's imperative to prevent premature aging.
- Keep a consistent weight. Yo-yo dieting can leave you with sagging skin or a "turkey neck.
- Lower your pillow. Sleeping with your neck extended instead of scrunched down into your chest can help you avoid neck creases and bands from forming.
- Keep looking up. Whether it's staring down at a computer or your feet when you walk, improving your posture and looking straight ahead or up will help you avoid excess neck wrinkles.
Neck Exercises
The effectiveness of neck exercises is debatable, but since stretching the muscles in other parts of the body helps keep them firm, it makes sense that the same would be true for your neck. At the very least, these exercises can relieve tension:
- Looking straight ahead, tip your head towards one shoulder and hold it there for 5 seconds. Straighten up and repeat to the other side. Next, turn (instead of tilt) your head from side to side.
- While sitting down, tilt your head backwards until you're looking up at the ceiling. Move your mouth in a chewing motion ten times.
- Place your hands on your forehead and push your head forward, creating resistance with your hands so you feel a stretch in the back of the neck. Hold for 8 counts. Switch your hands to the back of your head and reverse the exercise so that you're pushing your head backwards. Alternate between the two directions three times.
Neck Treatments
If your neck is already looking older than you'd like, you have a few non-surgical options:
- Anti-aging creams can stimulate skin regeneration and collagen production, reducing the appearance of wrinkles and discoloration. Look for creams with ingredients like hyaluronic acid and anti-oxidants. Your regular face cream might be fine, unless you use one that's too heavy. Make sure it contains SPF for day use, and apply it to the neck and décolleté area.
- Skin-Tightening procedures like Thermage and chemical peels can stimulate collagen production and even out skin tone.
- Botox® Cosmetic injections are also often used, depending on your situation. Botox will only help if a neck muscle is causing the wrinkles you're trying to combat.
Surgical Options
If you feel that you need more drastic intervention, various surgical options can help. Talk to a plastic surgeon about the best option for your particular concern. In main cases they will suggest a combination of the following:
- Neck Liposuction can be very effective for people with heavy jowls or excess neck fat. In this procedure, a small tube is inserted under the chin to break up and suck out the extra fat.
- Platysmaplasty, a kind of neck lift, involves altering or tightening neck muscles to correct excess bands around the neck. By making small incisions, a plastic surgeon will realign neck muscles or remove a portion of them to tighten the area.
- Cervicoplasty, another kind of neck lift, involves removing sagging skin. The doctor makes small insertions under your chin and/or behind the ears, pulls back the extra skin and secures it with permanent stitches or glue.
- Neck lifts are often performed in conjunction with brow or face lifts. Costs, risks, and recovery times vary depending on several factors including if your lift can be done endoscopically (under local rather than general anesthesia). Discuss your options and expectations with your doctor.
Sources:
Plastic Surgery Association
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Patients_and_Consumers/Procedures/Cosmetic_Procedures/Botulinum_Toxin.html
Plastic Surgery Net
http://www.facialplasticsurgery.net/neck_lift.htm
