Dr. Thomas A. Pane, Atlantic Coast Aesthetics’ Chief Medical Officer and founder, took to Google again to answer the Question of the Week from our viewing audience. The question involved a forty-year-old woman who was interested in neck liposuction. She sent pictures to assist the doctor in making a preliminary assessment. As mentioned in a previous webcast, pictures are not a substitute for in-person clinical examination, but in this case, Dr. Pane felt reasonably confident about the prognosis. The question was, “Am I a candidate for neck lipo, or will I need a neck lift procedure instead?”
The first thing Dr. Pane observed was that the patient, at forty, is still a little young for a neck lift or other more invasive treatment to be considered a go-to option. He stated that there are a number of factors that can influence how and when a patient may need to go the more radical route of a neck lift procedure versus neck lipo. Given the photos of the area in question, he said that overall he expected she should see fairly good results, largely due to the following factors.
Everyone sees the skin first, and doctors are no exception. Dr. Pane said the patient’s skin in the problem area looked healthy and to be in fairly good condition, which is the first factor to examine in trying to set a prognosis. Because the patient’s skin was in good shape, he anticipated that the skin should conform to the lipo-treated area reasonably quickly. In some cases, where the skin has been stretched too badly or damaged by environmental factors such as sun exposure and cigarette smoke, more invasive methodology may need to be considered, such as a combination neck lipo and neck lift.
The problem with this, according to Dr. Pane, is that the more invasive procedure naturally requires more stringent aftercare, as well as a more prolonged use of compression garments. He said in this patient’s case, he would expect that she should need to wear a compression garment around her neck for a couple of days, and from then on only while sleeping for several weeks while the area healed. The longer compression garments must be worn consecutively, the greater a chance for post-operative complications such as fluid pooling beneath the skin, also known as seroma. Therefore, a shorter duration in the compression garment is far more optimal for the patient’s recovery in the long run.
The neck support and compression garment, taken in tandem with minimally or noninvasive treatments such as radio frequency, or RF, skin tightening, combined with the patient’s apparent skin condition and the location and quantity of the fat deposits under consideration, gave Dr. Pane the impression that more invasive methods such as a neck lift would not be necessary. He did note that every patient and case is different, and so what was appropriate treatment for this specific forty-year-old woman may be completely inappropriate and far less effective for another patient, which is why clinical evaluation of each case is so vital.
As with any other cosmetic or other surgical procedure, liposuction does have some risk of complications. These complications can range from relatively mild to potentially fatal. To help offset the risk of post-surgical complications developing, it is essential that the patient fully understand and adhere to any directions given for care and cleaning of the surgical site as well as general restrictions and requirements during recovery. This will help the patient not only feel far better and decrease overall recovery time, but it will also vastly reduce the chances of the patient needing remedial procedures to correct damage done during the recovery process or because of complications.
ACA and Dr. Pane welcome questions about cosmetic surgery, no matter how big or small. One thing we’ve learned is that if one patient has a given question, several others certainly will as well. Patient education and information about the procedures they undergo is one of the most important factors in giving them the great results they’re looking for, which is why we encourage patients to ask us anything cosmetic-surgery related! You can email your question to us at https://acplasticsurg.com, call us at 561-422-4116 or send it to us on our Facebook page. Your question may be the next ACA Question of the Week, and possibly give someone else less bold than you the answer to a question they’ve been wanting to ask too. Be sure to watch our Google Hangouts with Dr. Pane each week to learn more!