When it comes to faces and necks – each are completely individual, therefore there are no set guidelines or protocols for treatment of jowling or ‘turkey neck’ and each and every patient needs to be assessed thoroughly to ascertain the correctly tailored treatment plan. Founder of Face Plus Media Spa, Dr William Mooney explains the correct treatments suited for removal for jowls and turkey necks.
Some patients – depending on various factors such as genetic predisposition, volume loss through the mid-third of the face, and skin thickness, a non-surgical thread lift can be best treatment for lifting the jowls. Thread lifts are a minimally invasive cosmetic enhancement technique used to lift sagging skin on the face using a thread that is inserted using a surgical suture. Thread lifts provide subtle and modest changes and can be used in conjunction with cosmetic injectable treatments, and treatments that improve skin texture such as laser and facial peels.
However, if the patient has thin skin or great volume loss through the cheeks, non-invasive cosmetic injectables may be the answer. Volumising hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers can replace loss of volume in the cheek that has caused the surrounding fat pads to sag and create jowls. Essentially, replacing this volume in the cheek can greatly assist to ‘lift’ the jowl. Some filler through the pre-jowl or jawline area can also help to soften and camouflage the jowl area.
Alternatively, facial volume restoration with poly-L-lactic acid can be undertaken in order to re-volumise the mid-face and lift the lower-face. With this treatment the patient’s own collagen is generated in response to the injection of microparticles of poly-L-lactic acid and this provides the ‘fill’ over time instead of using an instantiations HA filler.
The use of fat dissolving injections with synthesised deoxycholic acid has not yet been approved for jowl fat, only for submental fullness (double chin). This has proven to be a very effective treatment for long-term reduction of fat in this area by breaking down fat cells; allowing them to be absorbed by the body.
If, however the patient is more concerned with wrinkles and skin laxity in the neck area – this can be amenable to platelet rich plasma treatment. The treatment involves the collection of your blood (approx. 8-16mls) which is then spun down in a centrifuge to separate out the plasma portion. The plasma that is rich in platelets is then injected back into areas of concern such as the neck. This treatment helps to regenerate and rejuvenate ageing skin through the simulation of collagen and elastin.
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