What Can I Do For Skin Irregularities In My Neck After A Submentoplasty?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I had a chin implant, neck liposuction and a submentoplasty with fat removed under the platysma muscle one month ago. I am 32 years old and had a double chin that could not be improved by any other method.  I wore a neck compression garment faithfully for three weeks after surgery. Despite this, I have very visible lumps and creases which did not exist prior to surgery. Will this resolve? What else can I do to help?

A: A submentoplasty combined with liposuction is a very good but aggressive procedure for neck recontouring. There is no question that it can do a good job of removing fat and tightening muscle, significant anatomic changes to improve a neck profile, but it does not remove skin. Thus it relies on the elasticity of skin to shrink down and produce the final shape. It is not uncommon for this procedure in some patients to end up with skin redraping issues. (irregularities, indentations, creases) That is the one knock on the procedure in my experience. It is still early so some of these skin issues will definitely get better with time. Whether they will completely go away remains to be seen and I doubt if there will be 100% resolution. But this is an issue of time and you will know more by six months after surgery. You would probably benefit by neck treatments such as massage or Exilis treatments which can help with skin smoothing and now is the time to do them before a lot of scar sets in.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana