There is a muscle in the neck called the platysma that becomes more apparent as we age and lose the thickness of our skin. This muscle is partly responsible for the downturn of the mouth and the jowling we have as well as being fully responsible for the vertical bands in the middle and to the sides of the neck that contribute to “turkey neck.”
Many of our clients already get botulinum toxin in the neck for the neck bands, but not too many people realize that we can do it so that the jawline might be slightly lifted and straightened to contribute to improving the jowl area. This treatment has been coined the “nefertiti lift” because the Egyptian goddess is said to have the perfect jawline structure.
Usually we put the toxin in the vertical bands of the neck near the jawline and sometimes a couple of inches down as well as putting small amounts along the jawline. If you grit your teeth and look in the mirror you can see these muscles at work that are pulling down the jowl and chin and accentuating the bands. Relaxing these muscles partially sometimes releases the skin to sit up higher and more smoothly. It works under the same principle as using toxin between the eyes (the glabella) which are muscles that pull your forehead down and in. After treatment of these muscles the forehead lifts slightly because it is freed from the downward pull of the glabellar muscles.
This treatment is relatively inexpensive (not usually much more that doing the area between the eyes and forehead) and is quite effective for the lower face. As you know, the treatment is non-invasive and sometimes it lasts longer than the typical 3-4 months out to 6 months.
2 caveats: this is not a face-lift! It doesn’t mean other treatments like fillers, Profound™ or Ultherapy® won’t be needed, although it could help get much better results. As with everything there are potential complications: bruising (temporary) and possibility of neck weakness with sit-ups (attention Yogis!) but we limit the amount used and this is uncommon and temporary.