Have you ever seen a photo of a celebrity you admire, perhaps someone close in age, and wondered how they look so youthful and fresh?
While celebrities and others use many procedures to reverse sun damage and the effects of gravity, fill in inevitable volume loss, and minimize wrinkling and slack skin, one area most people consider a significant sign of aging and its risks is a double (or triple) chin. As we age, gravity, skin laxity, and weight gain cause loss of the sharp angle between the chin and neck.
While it is true that when one gains weight, the distribution of those extra fat cells can occur anywhere on the body, the chin and neck area draws attention, particularly when you’ve worked hard to keep facial skin toned and balanced. Indeed, there are all types of cosmetic and skincare tricks to keep your face youthful, but a double chin is closely associated with aging and worth your attention.
There are convenient procedures available to sharpen your jawline to its youthful state, but some are less invasive and have a shorter recovery time than you may imagine. A popular alternative to a full neck lift, which undeniably produces dramatic results, is chin liposuction. Chin liposuction can produce amazing benefits for many people with a double chin without the downtime associated with face or neck lifts and the many painful injections of deoxycholic acid associated with Kybella™.
Let’s take a deep dive into the pros and cons of this chin and jaw sculpting procedure. You should consider several things before you commit to any medical procedure, including the potential benefits and harms, especially in light of your skin’s elasticity, your weight and any recent weight loss or gain, your commitment to a healthy lifestyle, and your recovery time.
What Are the Benefits of Chin Liposuction
The term ‘double chin’ refers to submental fat. These pockets of unwanted fat can form with aging or weight gain. In some cases, genetics may play a role. Even though you may not be significantly overweight, a double chin can give the appearance of obesity. They are objectively unattractive and can be aging.
A sculpted jawline is a youthful look that can balance your facial features. Chin liposuction defines the jawline, improving your appearance from the front to the profile. Chin liposuction improves your appearance from the front and in profile.
When diet and exercise don’t achieve the toned neck and sculpted jawline you want, chin liposuction is a worthwhile consideration to remove the excess fat beneath your chin. Chin liposuction is a minimally invasive procedure that achieves good results with little downtime. Contrary to some belief, fat removed through chin liposuction does not return.
Getting rid of submental fat early can prevent the development of skin laxity in the area in the future, as the skin stretches to accommodate excess fat, and it does not ‘snap back’ after fat removal, often requiring a more extensive procedure to tighten loose skin like radiofrequency based skin tightening or a Neck Lift or Facelift.
The radiofrequency skin tightening or minimally invasive chin lift procedure (NeckTite™) offers long-term value. This procedure has minimal scarring, and the small incisions are placed in areas where they are usually unnoticeable. Downtime is brief and you can resume your regular activities quickly.
Chin Liposuction: A Popular Procedure Among Celebrities
Several celebs have opened up about their chin liposuction experiences, including Jamie Lee Curtis, who’s famous for her role as “Tess” in hit movie, Freaky Friday. Susan Sarandon, who’s also known for her roles in both film and television, previously shared that she had liposuction done below her eyes and chin.
Lastly, Grammy award-winning rapper, reality TV star and social media personality, Cardi B recently opened up about having Chin Liposuction after her first pregnancy.
How Is Chin Liposuction Performed?
Chin liposuction is performed through small incisions under the chin and behind your ears. The surgeon will look carefully at your chin and neck before surgery and will mark the areas of cannula insertion.
Chin liposuction is usually done using a local anesthetic to numb the area. Some surgeons may also suggest mild IV sedation to reduce anxiety or pain during the procedure. However, Dr. Mesa performs the procedure under local anesthesia, awake without any pain, thus avoiding the need for any sedation or heavy narcotic pain medications. The incisions made by the surgeon are small, about 3 or 4 mm in most cases.
A cannula, a thin, hollow metal tube connected to a vacuum, is inserted through the incisions and used first to agitate the fat. Your surgeon will then use light suction to remove fat from the areas of interest.
In some cases, if you have discussed this with your surgeon, they may use the excess fat to fill nearby areas of volume loss like the chin itself. This is known as an autologous fat transplant.
RELATED: Understanding the Benefits of Local Anesthesia
The Recovery Period After Chin Liposuction
After your procedure, your surgeon will close the incisions and place a head bandage, providing comfort and support for healing. You will probably need to take several days to a week off from your regular activities, and you may experience some discomfort, although this should be minimal. It may be another week before your surgeon advises you to resume exercise.
Are You a Good Candidate for Chin Liposuction?
What might make you a good candidate for chin liposuction? Generally, most people achieve some benefit, although the best candidates are those without a lot of skin laxity or excess skin in the jaw area. A healthy lifestyle makes you a better candidate.
The questions below may help you sort if you’re a candidate for Chin Liposuction:
- Do you have puffy or bulky fatty tissues on your neck and around your jawline?
- Are you currently close to your ideal weight? If you are overweight, try to get as close as possible to your ideal weight before the procedure, or you may end up doing the procedure twice.
- Are you in good health?
- Are you a non-smoker? Smoking increases skin laxity and slows healing.
- Is your skin elastic and firm? If not, consider a procedure such as a NeckTite™) that will tighten excess skin or a neck lift that will tighten skin and loose muscle while getting rid of excess fat.
- Do you take blood thinners, aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs? While blood thinners should never be stopped without talking to your prescribing physician, you should stop taking NSAIDs and aspirin a few weeks before your procedure to reduce bleeding.
In general, genetics and lifestyle can result in significant aging variances. It’s always wise to discuss your options with a board-certified plastic surgeon to get the look you want to achieve.
RELATED: Is Chin Liposuction Right for Me?
Make an appointment to discuss chin liposuction with Dr. Mesa
Chin liposuction is a valuable tool in your anti-aging arsenal. It’s a minimally invasive procedure with a short downtime that can quickly provide a refreshed and more youthful celebrity-like look. It’s critical to have any cosmetic procedures performed by a qualified surgeon.
Dr. Mesa is a board-certified plastic surgeon who practices in New York, New Jersey, and Miami. If you’re concerned about a double chin and the aging it implies, call Dr. Mesa today for a consultation.