Surgery that tightens the neck muscles, removes loose skin, and sharpens the angle under the chin, the region where aging often shows first and devices help least.
Also called: platysmaplasty, lower rhytidectomy, neck lift surgery, submentoplasty, turkey neck surgery
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The neck ages on its own schedule, and often faster than the face above it. Vertical bands appear, the skin loosens, and the crisp angle under the chin softens into a straight line from chin to collarbone. It is also the region where non-surgical options oversell hardest, because fat freezing, injections, and energy devices all treat pieces of the problem while the structure underneath goes unaddressed.
What the operation involves
A neck lift works on three layers as needed. The surgeon tightens the platysma muscle, usually by suturing its separated front edges back together through a small incision hidden in the crease under the chin. Fat above or below the muscle is removed or sculpted. When loose skin is the dominant issue, incisions behind the ears let the surgeon redrape and trim it, pulling nothing tight at the surface.
The operation runs two to four hours under sedation or general anesthesia. Which layers your neck needs is the entire content of a good consultation, and it is why quotes vary so much between patients.
Neck lift alone, or with a facelift
The neck and lower face age together, and the same deeper structures run through both. Surgeons frequently recommend combining a neck lift with a facelift because the jawline result of each depends partly on the other, and one recovery beats two.
The honest way to decide: if jowls bother you as much as your neck, have the conversation about doing both. If your jawline has held and the neck is the complaint, a standalone neck lift is a real operation with a real result, not a consolation prize. Be wary only of a quote that treats the neck while ignoring obvious jowling, since the contrast afterward can look odd.
What it costs
Nationally, $8,000 to $16,000 all in. A limited platysmaplasty through the chin incision alone runs lower, sometimes $6,000 to $9,000. Adding it to a facelift typically increases that operation’s price by less than half of what a standalone neck lift costs, which is the economic argument for combining when both are needed.
As with all surgery, compare the scope of the operation between quotes, not the headline number.
Recovery
Days 1 to 3: swelling and tightness under the chin, a supportive chin strap worn most of the time
Week 1: bruising migrates down the neck and chest, sutures start coming out
Week 2: most patients look presentable and return to desk work
Weeks 3 to 4: strap reduced to nights if still recommended, light exercise resumes
Weeks 6 to 8: full activity, the new neck angle visible as swelling settles
Months 3 to 6: final contour, with tightness sensations fading gradually
A feeling of tightness when looking up is normal for several weeks and is part of the muscle repair settling.
Whether it is the right operation
Look at your profile in a mirror. If what bothers you is a pocket of fullness under the chin with skin that still snaps back, fat treatment alone may be enough, and Kybella or CoolSculpting are worth pricing first. If you see cords, hanging skin, or a lost jaw angle, those are structural, and devices will spend your money without moving them.
Browse plastic surgeons in your city and ask specifically how many neck lifts the surgeon performs each year, since the platysma work is where experience shows.
Why people choose Neck Lift
Tightens the platysma muscle bands that no injectable or device can correct
Removes hanging skin under the chin and along the neck
Restores the angle between jawline and neck that reads as youthful in profile
Can be performed alone or combined with a facelift in one recovery
Are you a good candidate?
People bothered by vertical neck bands, loose or hanging neck skin, or a blunted jawline angle, whose midface has aged less than their neck
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Neck Lift guides & cost breakdowns
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Nationally, $8,000 to $16,000 including surgeon, anesthesia, and facility. A limited submental platysmaplasty through a single incision under the chin sits at the lower end. A full neck lift with incisions behind the ears and skin removal sits higher. Combining it with a facelift raises the total but costs meaningfully less than doing the two operations separately.
What is the difference between a neck lift and a facelift?
They are neighbors, not synonyms. A facelift repositions the deeper tissue of the cheeks and jawline. A neck lift works below the jaw, tightening the platysma muscle, removing fat above or below it, and trimming loose skin. Many patients need both and have them together. Someone whose face has held up but whose neck has not is the classic candidate for a neck lift alone.
Can Botox, Kybella, or skin tightening devices fix my neck instead?
Each has a narrow lane. Botox can soften early muscle bands for a few months. Kybella and CoolSculpting remove fat under the chin but do nothing for loose skin or muscle, and removing fat under lax skin can make hanging worse. Ultrasound and radiofrequency devices tighten mild laxity modestly. Established bands and hanging skin are structural, and surgery is the only treatment that corrects structure.
What causes the vertical bands in my neck?
The platysma is a thin sheet of muscle just under the skin of the neck. With age its front edges loosen and separate, and those edges show through the skin as two vertical cords. They tend to appear in the fifties and become more visible with animation. A platysmaplasty stitches the edges back together in the midline, which is why no cream or injectable reaches the problem.
How visible are the scars?
The workhorse incision hides in the natural crease under the chin and typically heals to a faint line. When skin needs removing, incisions run behind the ears and into the hairline, in the same well-hidden pattern facelifts use. Neck skin heals well in most patients, and visible scarring is uncommon with a surgeon who closes without tension.
Sources
Where this information comes from
Clinical facts on this page are checked against these primary sources.
1.Neck Lift, American Society of Plastic SurgeonsConfirms a neck lift addresses excess fat, loose skin, and muscle banding in the jawline and neck area.
2.Neck Lift Risks and Safety Information, American Society of Plastic SurgeonsLists anesthesia risk, bleeding, prolonged swelling, and rare nerve injury causing lower lip weakness as recognized neck lift risks.
3.Neck Rejuvenation, StatPearls, National Library of Medicine (National Institutes of Health)Describes the platysma as the thin neck muscle whose separated medial borders create vertical bands, platysmaplasty as suturing those borders back together, and the submental incision placed in the crease under the chin, matching the page's description of the operation and its cause of neck bands.
4.KYBELLA (deoxycholic acid) Prescribing Information, U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationConfirms Kybella is FDA-approved for improvement of submental fullness, supporting the page's statement that Kybella removes fat under the chin.
5.ZELTIQ CoolSculpting System 510(k) Summary (K171069), U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationConfirms the CoolSculpting System is FDA-cleared for cold-assisted lipolysis of the submental area, supporting the page's statement that CoolSculpting removes fat under the chin.
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ClinicCompass. (2026). Neck Lift: Cost, Results and Clinics. Retrieved {accessed}, from https://thecliniccompass.com/treatments/neck-lift/
