Deep Neck Sculpting

Ideal patients are generally healthy and of any age and any body type. Patients should have realistic goals: restoring a crisp neck and jawlines in order to refresh one’s appearance is a reasonable goal, whereas seeking the looks of another person is not. Friends, family and colleagues should notice that you look better, as if having lost weight or more refreshed. Patients planning facelift should also consider neck lift for a balanced result. Nora Ephron once said “The neck is a dead give-away. Our faces are lies and our necks are the truth.” Dr. Rad is known in northern Virginia and Washington DC for achieving facial harmony and restoring youthful neck and face contours will give the most natural results.

Your comfort and safety are most important and light “twilight” anesthesia ensures you won’t feel any discomfort, you won’t be aware of the procedure, and you’ll not have memories of surgery. This level of anesthesia is minimal, just enough so that you’re asleep and unaware of the procedure, but you are still breathing on your own (the machine is not “breathing for you”). The safest environment in which to perform surgery under anesthesia is a hospital-based operating room. Dr. Rad performs surgery at Sibley, GW and Inova Fairfax, the best hospitals in the northern Virginia and Washington DC areas.

Neck Lift surgery is very safe when performed by a skilled surgeon in a hospital-based operating facility. The risks related to anesthesia – Dr. Rad considers your safety to be the highest priority and for this reason he chooses not to perform your surgery in the office, and rather at Sibley, George Washington or Inova Fairfax hospitals, the best hospital systems in the Washington DC and northern Virginia areas, where skilled anesthesiologists and nursing staff create a safe and comfortable environment. Anesthesia risk is very low for healthy patients who have no heart, lung or kidney disease, many times lower than the risk of driving a car every day.

There are many techniques and technologies available, and it can be confusing to know how much improvement can be achieved with each. Many patients ask Dr. Rad if liposuction combined with a skin tightening device can achieve as good a result as surgical neck lift. The short answer is no: surgical contouring addresses all tissue layers, i.e. skin, subcutaneous (under skin) fat, platysma muscle, sub-platysma fat and digastric muscles, whereas liposuction only addresses subcutaneous fat. Patients younger than 35 generally have good skin tone and so fullness in the neck can be related to excess fatty tissue (if overweight) but more commonly due to full digastric muscles and subplatysma fat which are not affected by liposuction. Older patients with loose skin won’t respond well to skin tightening because collagen content is low, and so redrawing of tissues is needed. Across all age groups, surgical neck contouring can be tailored to your exact needs, and Dr. Rad will guide you expertly towards the ideal results safely and effectively.

For patients with good skin elasticity and who are concerned with early laxity in the neck and jowl, jawline regions, Thermage FLX is the most effective and science-driven skin tightening device on the market. It is the “smartphone” equivalent as compared with all other devices which are like the “dumb flip phones.” The reason is because Thermage FLX can titrate the heat delivered to tissues to raise temperature to the narrow band of efficacy. This “smart” technology of real-time adjustment of heat delivery allows every pulse of treatment to reliably tighten skin. All other devices are not capable of adjusting energy and so providers often err on the side of undertreating, which results in no improvement, because overtreating can result in a burn. Therefore Thermage FLX is the only skin tightening device that delivers reliable results.

The cost of a facelift (midface, lower face, neck lift) under Dr. Rad’s care starts at $25,000 and increases depending on anatomical needs (specifically whether deep gland and fat reduction is needed), aesthetic goals, and whether other facial procedures are combined with the facelift. The cost for total facial aesthetic surgery ranges $30,000 to $125,000 for corrective work or comprehensive facial aesthetic enhancement that includes eyelids, brows, nose, lips, etc. Note that pricing is customized for each patient and these guidelines do not necessarily apply uniformly.

Total cost depends on multiple factors: your unique anatomy, your goals, complexity of the procedures, the technique used (non-surgical versus surgical), whether corrective work is needed, in-office or hospital-based operating facility, combining multiple procedures (increasing concessions apply for multiple procedures), and the training, certification (Board certification is essential), experience (at least 8 years of experience after residency is recommended), and eye and skill (the unteachable talent) of your surgeon.

Although you may receive varying cost estimates from other practices, keep in mind that your surgeon’s education and training, plastic surgery board certification, his/her experience (at least 8 years of experience after residency is recommended), and the “X” factor of aesthetic artistry and surgical skill (i.e., talent) of your surgeon are important factors in pricing. Dr. Rad’s goal for every patient is to achieve nuanced and natural results with minimal recovery, and we have mechanisms in place to bring your goals in financial reach.

Dr. Ariel Rad strives to deliver the best Neck Lift Washington, DC has to offer. To find out more about facial cosmetic surgery and our financing options, schedule your consultation by contacting our office today.