Neck Lift

1. Understanding Your Goals

• Your priorities: The consultation starts with what you would like to change, what matters most to you and what you hope surgery will achieve.

2. Clinical Assessment

• Clinical assessment: Dr Mercer assesses anatomy, tissue quality, asymmetry, scars and any factors that may affect the operation or healing.

3. Options, Limits & Planning

• Options and limits: Suitable surgical options, likely scars, trade-offs and realistic outcomes are discussed rather than assuming that surgery is the right answer.
• Planning: If you choose to proceed, clinical photography, measurements and a personalised operative plan are completed before a surgery date is confirmed.

Before surgery

• Lower-face assessment: The surgeon assesses jowls, neck skin, platysma, chin projection and submental fat together.
• Nicotine: Stop nicotine for the required interval because neck and facial skin healing relies on good blood flow.
• Planning: Arrange recovery support, medication review and time away from work and social commitments.

Anaesthesia

• General anaesthetic: A formal neck lift is usually performed under general anaesthesia.

Neck contouring

• Incisions: Incisions are placed around the ears and sometimes beneath the chin.
• Platysma: The neck muscle can be tightened or repositioned according to anatomy.
• Fat: Selected fat may be removed conservatively.
• Skin: Loose skin is redraped and excess is trimmed before layered closure.

Week 1

• Appearance: Swelling, bruising and neck tightness are prominent; social downtime is expected.

Weeks 2–3

• Public life: Most patients become more comfortable returning to work and social activity.

Weeks 4–6

• Exercise: Exercise is reintroduced gradually.

3–12 months

• Final result: Residual swelling resolves and scars progressively mature.

First 2 weeks

• Head position: Sleep elevated and avoid turning, bending and straining excessively.
• Dressings: Wear any prescribed neck support or compression for the advised period.

Weeks 3–6

• Activity: Return to exercise progressively and begin scar care when incisions are fully healed.

Early review

• What happens: The team checks wounds, swelling, comfort and any dressings during the first postoperative period.

1–2 weeks

• What happens: Incisions and early healing are reviewed; sutures or dressings are removed when appropriate and activity guidance is updated.

6 weeks

• What happens: Dr Mercer reviews recovery, scars and return to exercise, and checks that healing is progressing as expected.

3–6 months

• What happens: Progress photographs may be taken as swelling settles and scars continue to mature.

Around 1 year

• What happens: A longer-term review can be used to assess the mature result once tissues and scars have fully settled.