Your neck is aging too, so it deserves the same attention you give your face. Skincare, procedures, filler and surgery are all a part of managing the aging skin of the neck. While there are certain products more specific to the thinner neck skin, most products can be used on the face and the neck together to make the routine easier. If you ever feel like your neck looks crepey or saggy, hydrate your skin for immediate improvement and call us to discuss which of the below you need to add onto your routine.
What is the most important skincare routine for the neck?
If it is important for your face, it is important for your neck. In order of importance
- Sunscreen! If you spend any time driving in the car and fail to use sunscreen, you will notice advanced aging on the left side of your neck. We prefer a non-tinted Elta MD for the neck to avoid getting tinted color on the collar of your shirt.
- Topical Vitamin C slows the aging of skin cells. Vitamin C is an antioxidant which fights harmful free radicals. Daily use slows cellular aging and decreases wrinkles and crinkling of the skin. Our favorite Vitamin C products are Jan Marini C-Esta and Obagi Vitamin C serums.
- Topical Vitamin A in the form of retinoids work by speeding the turn-over of topical dying skin cells while decreasing the speed in which collagen breaks down. Retinols such as the Skin Medica Retinol, prescription Retin A, or over the counter Differin are all products in this category.
- The anti-aging cream market has gone after the neck, but patients sometimes skip the neck. Our very favorite neck products are Jan Marini Juveneck and Neocutis Microfirm Neck & Decollete. We stand behind the medical grade skincare science and QA behind these brands.
What procedures work best for the neck?
- Microneedling! What, you’ve had your face done and they ignored your neck? This is simply not okay. We strongly recommend all microneedling treatments include the neck. This is a part of our routine procedure, but even if your service provider charges extra for the neck, pay for it.
- Radiofrequency works by delivering energy through micro needles to increase collagen and elastin. We can use a low downtime option such as Pixel-8RF with redness often lasting 24-48 hours or Profound-RF with bruising that can linger for a week.
- Ultherapy is ultrasound energy which is great for increasing collagen and patients often add on the neck with their face treatments, but the neck alone can be done for patients with neck aging that is outpacing the face.
- Erbium is an ablative laser that usually involves one week of redness and some scaling, but it works great to improve the texture, tone and reduce fine lines of the neck.
Can you use injectable fillers in the neck?
When the neck lines become deeper, we can use hyperdilute Radiesse to increase collagen and elastin in the neck. And, Redensity and RHA2 are both good products for smoothing the neck creases.
What about surgery?
Sometimes a facelift and neck lift is the beginning of the journey to taking care of your neck. You now enjoy seeing it lifted and tighter and want to prolong that surgical result. Or if you’ve done a decent job with prevention strategies, but the aging of your neck has outpaced what non-surgical improvement can offer, then it is time for surgery. When you are ready to consider a facelift, you should know that the neck will get a lift right along with it. There are times when the neck laxity outpaces facial aging and a neck lift surgery without a facelift is performed.
