Before a neck lift: Who’s a good candidate for a neck lift?

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What does a neck lift fix, and what can’t it fix?

A neck lift, which ASPS calls a lower rhytidectomy, treats four things ASPS lists: jowls, fat under the chin, loose neck skin and muscle banding. ASPS also says it doesn’t change your fundamental appearance and can’t stop aging.

Cleveland Clinic splits the two operations by area. A facelift restores the upper face and often includes neck lift steps, while a neck lift works on the area below the chin and above the collarbone. ASPS says only surgery delivers neck lift results, and nonsurgical treatments can’t match it but may delay when surgery becomes appropriate.

Which operation

Which neck lift operation fits what I see in the mirror?

Which operation fits depends on which of three layers the problem sits in, a 2009 Seminars in Plastic Surgery review says: fat under the skin, the platysma muscle, or the deeper fat, muscle and gland. Fat alone points to liposuction, bands to a muscle operation, and a bulge from deep structures to deep-plane surgery.

Skin decides the cuts, the same review says. Good skin with little excess can go through a short scar under the chin, while excess, inelastic, sun-damaged skin needs the full cut behind the ear. The Aesthetic Society describes a full neck lift as under-chin or ear incisions, corset platysmaplasty, trimmed skin and fat, and sometimes drains. The picker shows where the sources point. It isn’t a diagnosis.

Which operation

Is neck liposuction enough, or do I need a full neck lift?

Neck liposuction can be enough when fat is the whole problem and your skin springs back, and Mayo Clinic says it typically works for young people with flexible skin and pockets of fat under the neck. The American Board of Cosmetic Surgery puts typical candidates in their 20s to early 50s.

Sources disagree on how far that goes. The Aesthetic Society says good elasticity and only fat to remove may need liposuction alone, while a 2012 review argues formal cervicoplasty is superior and isolated liposuction helps only a limited group. Removing skin-level fat can expose platysma bands, and a bulge that stays can be an enlarged digastric muscle or gland the fat was hiding. ASPS counted 18,842 chin liposuctions and 27,315 neck lifts in 2025. Our liposuction guide covers neck liposuction itself.

Go deeperIs liposuction worth it for me?

Which operation

Neck lift vs facelift: do I need both?

A neck lift alone won’t fix significant jowls, a 2009 Seminars in Plastic Surgery review says, so sagging along the jawline usually points to a lower face and neck lift.

ASPS says a neck lift may suit someone who isn’t ready for a full facelift because the upper face still looks pleasing while the neck skin, chin fullness or jowls show aging. The Aesthetic Society warns that with a neck lift alone other facial aging may look more obvious, and a Washington University physician group’s page says contouring only the neck may make the untouched face look proportionally older.

Without surgery

Does the Nefertiti neck lift work, and is it a real neck lift?

The Nefertiti neck lift is Botox injected along the jawline and into neck bands, not an operation, and on October 18, 2024 the FDA approved Botox Cosmetic for moderate to severe platysma bands only. The jawline claim rests on one 30-patient study.

That study, from Lebanon in 2017, found bands improved significantly while jowls and marionette lines only trended toward improvement. Approval covers Botox Cosmetic, not Dysport, Xeomin or Daxxify. One Texas practice says results last up to 3 to 6 months and a Los Angeles practice says 3 to 4 months, while the trials followed people for 120 days. Two practices say it fits mild to moderate change with good skin, not heavy fullness or loose skin.

Go deeperThe Nefertiti neck lift guide Neck lift vs skin tightening

Are you a fit

Who isn’t a good candidate for a neck lift?

ASPS says good neck lift candidates are healthy, don’t smoke and have realistic expectations, and we found no society that sets a weight or BMI cutoff for a neck lift.

What follows is where the sources point, not where a line sits. Skin, neck shape, weight, smoking, blood thinners and earlier surgery each change the plan, and many of the numbers come from facelift studies, one surgeon’s series or other countries, which each tab says. Your surgeon’s exam decides.

Are you a fit

Is there a best age for a neck lift, and do men get them?

ASPS estimated 27,315 neck lifts in the US in 2025, with 10,689 in people 56 to 65, 10,103 in people 66 and older and 3,479 in men.

The Aesthetic Society’s separate estimate for 2023, 42,153 neck lifts, put 49.0% in people 51 to 64 and 37.3% in those 65 and older. Younger people show up too. The American Board of Cosmetic Surgery puts typical neck liposuction patients in their 20s to early 50s, and a 2026 abstract describes ideal candidates for early neck contouring as 20 to 40 with early fullness and good skin elasticity. UCSF says the neck often ages before the face. People asked about beards and hairlines, and the clinical sources we read don’t address them.

Risks and results

What are the risks of a neck lift, and how common are they?

No single number gives your risk: hematoma was 1.8% in a 2025 pooled analysis of 2,106 patients whose neck lifts cut the platysma, while one Egyptian surgeon’s series of 641 deep-neck patients found 12.3% had any complication, and each counted different things.

ASPS lists anesthesia risks, bleeding, hematoma, infection, numbness, persistent pain, poor wound healing, skin loss, unfavorable scarring, asymmetry and results that may need revision, and calls nerve injury causing lower-lip weakness rare. Below, each figure sits with its denominator and scope, and where sources disagree they’re shown side by side. Call your surgeon right away. Call 911 for trouble breathing or swallowing or chest pain.

Risks and results

How long do neck lift results last?

No study we found follows neck lifts alone for long, and the closest one, 50 facelifts in London and Glasgow checked at 5.5 years, found the neck’s correction faded faster than the jowl’s.

That 2012 study measured the average share of the correction lost, not the share of patients. Scoring still suggested 76% of the patients looked younger than before surgery. The Aesthetic Society calls results semi-permanent, and Cleveland Clinic says they can last years depending on genetics, smoking, sun exposure and recovery complications. A 2026 review of five small series and 188 revision cases says revision often comes 7 to 11 years after the first operation. A 25-year report of 1,089 facial surgery patients found follow-up past three years difficult, that fuller necks relapsed more, and that treating the midline bands reduced neck recurrence. We found no general revision rate.

Risks and results

Will a neck lift look obvious, and where are the scars?

Once healed, ASPS says neck lift incision lines are usually well hidden in the hairline and the natural contours of the ear, and Mayo Clinic says they can take up to a year to fade.

ASPS describes a traditional incision from the sideburn hairline around the ear into the hair behind it, or a limited one only around the ear that may give more limited results, and usually a separate cut under the chin for liposuction and muscle repair. ASPS also says a neck lift doesn’t change your fundamental appearance. Temporary hair loss along the incisions and asymmetry are on Cleveland Clinic’s and ASPS’s risk lists. In what people asked, 13 of 109 sources wanted to know where scars sit, 13 whether they’d still look like themselves and 7 about an overdone, over-tight look. Those count sources, not rates.

Before you decide

Will I regret a neck lift?

No study we found measures regret after a neck lift, and the 62 patient and public-voice sources we read can’t either, because people mostly share stories when they’re happy.

Regret and relief both show up. The regret themes were numbness people weren’t ready for, a low day around day 3 or 4 (5 sources, including one surgeon’s warning in Vogue), constant mirror scrutiny, a result that didn’t last as long as hoped, and a surgeon or an online story that made the aftermath sound easier than it was. ASPS lists unsatisfactory results that may need revision among the risks, and Mayo Clinic lists dissatisfaction where another surgery might be an option.

Before you decide

Should I tell people I’m having a neck lift?

Telling people is your call, and in the 109 sources we read, 11 asked whether to tell anyone and 11 asked how friends, family and strangers would react.

Six sources said other people’s reactions were stronger than expected, a mix of compliments, online cruelty and “you don’t need it.” Six asked whether it’s selfish or vain to want it, and two asked how a partner or family would cope. The clinical sources give timing, not etiquette. Johns Hopkins says pain, swelling and bruising resolve within two weeks for most people and swelling can take up to three months, and Cleveland Clinic says most people are back at work in 7 to 14 days.

Before you decide

What should I ask at a neck lift consultation?

At a neck lift consultation your surgeon reviews your health, medicines, tobacco use and earlier surgeries, and ASPS says to expect face measurements, photographs and a talk about anesthesia and likely outcomes.

Johns Hopkins says to expect questions on smoking, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, an unusual tendency to scar, clotting disorders, skin type, age and your expectations. Write down which operation they plan and which layers it touches, where the cuts go, and their own numbers for bleeding, nerve weakness and revision. Check a surgeon’s board certification on the board’s own verification page.

Go deeperNeck lift surgeons near you