If you want to redefine your jawline, you’re not alone. At Lieberman & Parikh, many of our patients tell us the area they most want to change is from their jawline to the collarbone.

What Is Happening To Your Jawline?

Jowls, double-chins, saggy necks and crepey skin are all an accumulation of fat and skin on your lower face. But, the real problem actually begins higher, on your mid-face. As we age, we lose volume in our faces and the skin’s supportive network of collagen, hyaluronic acid and elastin breaks down. The result  is that facial muscles and tissues have less support and everything below begins to sag.

Saggy Jawline – What Are My Options?

Fortunately, we have many options for addressing lose skin and excess fat around the jawline and neck. The best way to determine what is right for you is to schedule a consultation with one of our double-board certified facial plastic surgeons, Drs. David Lieberman & Sachin Parikh.  But in the meantime, we’ve outlined some of your options for a more chiseled jawline depending on your concerns and goals:

Dermal Fillers To Lift The Jawline – Best for mild to moderate jowling and jawline laxity

If you have mild jowling or skin laxity in that area, one way to tighten is actually to  add volume to the cheeks using dermal fillers. Adding fillers to the midface will lift the skin and therefore give the jawline a more defined  and tight appearance.

Another way to use dermal fillers to give the appearance of a more solid jawline, is to inject filler into the prejowl sulcus – the area between the jowl and chin – to blend the jaw and chin into a straighter line.

Using dermal fillers to replace lost structural support in the face can make a natural but dramatic change in the contour of your jawline.

If you want to discuss your options for redefining your jawline or tightening your neck with one of our double board certified facial plastic surgeons, give us a call at (650) 327-3232 or send a quick email.

Nectifirm® by Revision Skincare For A Crepey Neck – Best for mild crepiness on the neck or neck wattles

If the problem area is mild crepiness below the jawline or minor neck wattles, we will often recommend patients begin with a topical cream,  Nectifirm® by Revision Skincare.  The skin on the neck is the second thinnest on the body (after the eyelids) and therefore it gets crepier faster than anywhere else.

Studies have shown that when Nectifirm® is used consistently for at least 28 days,  40% of users will see an improved firmness. Other benefits of of Nectifirm® include:

• Reduction of adipose tissue and rough, crepey skin
• Smoothing of lines and wrinkles
• Improvement in sun damage

The benefits of Nectifirm will stop if you stop using the product, and Nectifirm is only truly useful for people with mild crepiness or neck -anding.

Ultherapy For Loose Neck Skin – Best for moderate skin laxity around the jawline and / or neck

If the skin laxity is not responsive with Nectifirm® , the next option is Ultherapy which is a nonsurgical, noninvasive procedure that uses ultrasound and the body’s own natural healing process to lift, tone, and tighten loose skin. Ultherapy can be used on many parts of the body, but it is especially for  moderate skin laxity on the neck. The procedure utilizes ultrasound energy to stimulate the deeper layers of the dermis to produce collagen without disturbing the surface of the skin.

You won’t see results from Ultherapy until three to five months after the treatment and you may need multiple treatments to see a full-correction.

Kybella For Submental Fullness – Best for mild to moderate submental fullness or a double chin

If you can pinch it, we can inject it with Kybella®. Unlike Ultherapy which targets loose skin, Kybella® targets excess fat. Kybella® is the only fat-blasting, FDA-approved injectable that will safely destroy a double chin.

Currently, it’s only approved for the area below the jawline, but finger’s crossed, we’ll soon be able to inject it into other areas (ie love handles).

Kybella®  usually requires a series of treatments spaced 4-6 weeks. And while it is not a surgical procedure, there is a fair amount of swelling for about a week after each treatment.

Submental Liposuction – Best for excess fullness on the neck and along the jawline

For patients with a lot of fullness around and under the jawline, Drs. Lieberman & Parikh may recommend submental liposuction in conjunction with another surgery .

When doing submental lipo, Drs. Lieberman & Parikh will make an incision under the chin and two small incisions under each ear to suction out the fat in the neck and jawline. Sub-mental liposuction can be done in the office under a local anesthesia or in the operating room under general anesthesia.

While submental liposuction alone will take only  30-45 minutes, it is a procedure that is often done in-conjunction with another surgery such as a chin implant, platysmaplasty, or a face and neck facelift and necklift. Since the face and neck are so interconnected, it is usually necessary to address the signs of facial aging as well as aging along the  neck to create a more complete and natural-looking result.

When you’re ready to discuss options for redefining your jawline or tightening your neck, give us a call at (650) 327-3232 or send a quick email so we can get you scheduled for a consultation with one of our facial experts.