How Can My Neck Scar and Fullness Under My Chin Be Improved?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I had a right neck dissection with many lymph nodes removed. They thought I had cancer but it was benign. I have a large neck scar and would like it to be less noticeable and a lot of fluid has collected under my chin since the surgery.

A:Thank you for your inquiry and sending your pictures. Besides the scar what you have under your chin is not a fluid collection but a soft tissue redundancy. The removal of tissue from the right neck area has magnified the typical signs of jowl and neck aging and lipodystrophy. In essence deeper tissues have been removed but the overlying skin in terms of the amount has not changed. This causes the neck area under the scar to be contracted inward which then causes a tissue redundancy to occur under the chin.

The only way to improve that problem is a lower facelift approach to redistribute the tissues and work out the excess the next car poses some challenges in that regard but does not eliminate that as a surgical approach. This then creates an issue about the opposite side in terms of symmetry.

In short you really need a lower facelift for a substantial improvement. It may initially seem like an unusual approach for the problem. But at the heart of the problem is tissue redundancies in the central neck area, and although the origin of it is unusual, working out the problem remains the same as someone who develops central neck tissue excesses from facial aging.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon