Treating the Turkey Neck
It happens one day when you are looking in the mirror while brushing your teeth. Suddenly you see it and you can’t look away…the beginnings of the turkey neck!
(For those not in the know a Turkey neck, refers to the loose skin that forms under the chin as we age. The reasons are usually loss of collagen and elasticity with age and exposure to the sun.)
But, what can we do to stop this?
Firstly, try and prevent it. Using retinol and sunscreen from your 30s is helpful in slowing down the free radicals that enter the skin and destroy the bodies collagen. Collagen supplements can help, but may not target the skin’s collagen (although it helps other collagen in the body).
When you start to see the signs that is when you should seek out an experienced aesthetic doctor who can offer a range of treatments.
In my clinics in Bromley and Beckenham I offer a range of treatments to improve the appearance of the neck.
I would usually start you off on some skin boosters to work on the skin quality – I offer a range of these including the big names such as Profhilo, Revive, NCTF etc. Which one I will choose for you, will depend on the degree of collagen loss and your budget. To be honest most of these require 2-3 treatments before you start to see results, so you must be patient!
Not keen on injecting anything into the neck? Then there are more natural options. Three treatments I offer in clinic are Ultherapy, Plasma Pen and Microneedling. These treatments create small injuries in the skin and the body heals the injuries with collagen. We can therefore encourage collagen exactly where we need it in the body.
Ultherapy uses ultrasound guided heat to create multiple small burns under the skin, while microneedling makes a puncture wound that needs closing. Ultherapy is the more expensive treatment, but has no downtime and is known as the gold standard in tightening and lifting, with an average increase of 42% of collagen and only requires 1 treatment. Plasma does the same by creaitng a burn, but it does this on the surface of the skin, so there is more downtime and scabbing. Microneedling is cheaper but has more downtime but requires multiple treatments. All these treatments take 3-6 months to stimulate the collagen and see the results.
We can also use collagen stimulating fillers either injected into the lines or diluted to inject all over the neck. This treatment is handy in older skin, as it can stimulate collagen producing cells that have already switched off collagen production. This treatment has more risk of bruising and like the other treatments, needs time and multiple treatments to work.
We can also use Botox to inject the neck, if the platysma (the main neck muscle) is pulling down on the lower jawline. This works relatively quickly, but the results are subtle and need to be done regularly to keep the effects active.
So, there are many options to treat the Turkey neck, which is great news! There is hope and we can choose a treatment that suits your budget.
Why not book in a consultation with Dr Kim Booysen at her Bromley or Beckenham clinic to discuss which treatment will be best for you (and your budget).
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