There’s Not a Damn Thing You Can Do About a Neck…?

“You can shoot collagen and Botox and Restylane into your wrinkles and creases but short of surgery, there’s not a damn thing you can do about a neck,” writes Nora Ephron in her book “I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman.”

Unfortunately, she’s right.

The skin on the neck is several times thinner than on the face, with poorly developed subcutaneous fat and few sebaceous glands. It loses moisture faster and looks more flabby and atonic with age.

What Skincare Can Help

Anti-aging creams for wrinkle prevention (look for peptides, vitamin C, and/or retinol in the ingredients). They don’t necessarily have to be labeled strictly as “neck creams” – facial products will also work. If you prefer to use a separate product for this area, here are some examples: NeoStrata’s Triple Firming Neck Cream, StriVectin TL Advanced Tightening Neck Cream PLUS, SkinCeuticals Tripeptide-R Neck Repair. If you don’t want to fuss over it, consider combinations like retinol + other actives or vitamin C + other actives.

A must-have is SPF and clothing that protects this area.

What Procedures Can Help

• Microneedling RF lifting: to reduce skin laxity and tighten the skin;
• Hyaluronic acid fillers: if you have pronounced Venus rings and want to smooth them out;
• Botox in the platysma: to correct “turkey neck” – vertical wrinkles and hypertonicity in this area;
• BBL: to improve skin elasticity and tone (pigmentation, vessels).

And then there’s surgery: let’s be honest, devices and fillers can’t always provide the results we desire. Genioplasty, SMAS-plasty (not to be confused with ultrasound SMAS on devices), or something else – the choice of procedure and recommendations depend on your request, medical history, and the surgeon’s advice.