Cleveland Cosmetic Surgery Eliminates Turkey Neck
In a recent Six Chix comic, comic artist Margaret Shulock pokes fun at the scarf-wearing fashion craze, offering the explanation: “It’s a Boomer thing, hon. We’re all getting the turkey neck.”
While it’s unlikely that turkey neck started the scarf craze, it’s certainly a good reason to adopt the popular fashion. Looking like the bulging wrinkled skin that forms a turkey’s wattle, turkey neck is the cascading ripple of deep wrinkles that collect under the chin and march down the neck as we age. Nearly everyone experiences some loosening of the neck skin as the years pass, but whether it develops into the unattractive wrinkles of turkey neck is a factor of genetics, weight gain and age.
As we age, our skin loses elasticity. With time and exposure to UV light, the collagen and elastin fibers in our dermis gradually break down, robbing our skin of the supportive connective tissue that makes it firm and smooth. As skin loses flexibility, it begins to sag, forming wrinkles under the chin that make it look like you have two chins, a condition called “double chin.” The same condition can occur when weight gain deposits excess fat under the chin and along the neck.
With time and gravity, wrinkles can deepen, sagging down the neck to form unattractive “turkey neck.” The condition can be more pronounced if you have lost weight after being overweight for some time. No amount of chin patting or facial isometrics can restore elasticity to facial and neck skin once it is lost. Botox Cosmetics and other skin fillers can be used to alleviate some wrinkles, but eventually gravity will win, pulling sagging skin downward and creating deep, unattractive wrinkles.
You don’t have to suffer with turkey neck. A board-certified Cleveland cosmetic surgeon can eliminate the unattractive excess skin of turkey neck by performing a neck lift, LipoSelection neck contouring or a combination of the two procedures.