What we treat / Neck bands
Neck Bands
The cords that stand out down the front of your neck are the front edges of a broad, thin muscle that runs from the jaw to the collarbone. For most of your life it lies flat and you never see it. As it tightens, those edges lift away from the neck and show as vertical bands. Relaxing them with a neuromodulator lets them settle back. Where the jawline above has also lost its edge, the two are treated together, because a neck rarely loosens on its own.
Why they happen
The muscle involved is a sheet rather than a rope. Over time it shortens and thickens along its front borders, and those borders are what you see standing away from the neck when you talk, swallow or tense.
The skin over the neck is thin with very little fat beneath it, so there is nothing to disguise the change. It is also skin that people protect from sun far less than their face. That combination is why the neck often looks older than the face above it, and why treating the face alone can make the difference more obvious rather than less.
How Dr. Mauer treats it
The main treatment
Botox & Neuromodulators
A series of small injections down the visible edge of each band so the cord stops standing away from the neck. Dr. Mauer treats the bands that are actually pulling and leaves the rest of the sheet working normally.
Read about BotoxWhere the jawline has gone too
Thread Lifts
Threads lift the tissue along the jaw and under the chin and hold it while collagen forms. Patients who came for the jawline frequently describe the neck as the change they noticed most.
Read about thread liftsWhat to expect
- Appointment
- 15 to 30 minutes
- Discomfort
- Most people describe a mild pinch
- Downtime
- None that stops you going back to work
- Visible
- 7 to 14 days for the full effect
- Lasts
- About 3 to 4 months
Results for this concern
Individual results vary. Photographs are published only with each patient’s written consent.
Questions about neck bands
Will it affect swallowing or my voice?+
Not when the placement and the dose are right. The muscle treated here sits directly under the skin, and the muscles that do the work of swallowing sit deeper and are not touched. This is an area where knowing the anatomy is the entire safety margin, which is the argument for a physician doing it.
Is this the same as a neck lift?+
No. A neck lift is surgery and it removes skin. This relaxes the muscle making the cords, takes half an hour and has no recovery. Dr. Mauer will tell you plainly if your neck has gone past what injections can do.
Why has my neck aged faster than my face?+
Thinner skin, almost no fat underneath, constant movement, and years of sun on a surface most people never protect. It is extremely common and it is not something you did wrong.
Can it be treated at the same appointment as my face?+
Usually, yes. Many patients add the neck once they are already being treated, and he will tell you whether doing both at once is the right order for you.
