Gina did my lips about a month before my wedding. They looked beautiful of course, but when I was looking at the before and afters I noticed my neck in one of the pictures and thought WHAT THE HELL!? You can see just how crepey my skin is.
I started to notice it about a year or so ago. I didn’t know neck skin got like that by 46. The girls I work with are sweet and they protest and say “What are you talking about?” and “I don’t see anything!” or “Girl, you’re crazy! I don’t see what you’re talking about!” Fair enough, my neck skin isn’t hanging off me. The crepiness isn’t always visible. But it IS there. When I turn my head a certain way, or when I lean over. Life isn’t just standing stock still. You can see in my “after pic” above that my skin looks better…that’s not because I had any treatments, my head was just in a slightly different position. Life is active and so we see our bodies in different positions and in motion. We aren’t always holding our phone up, head tilted back, taking a selfie! So let’s talk about what to do in REAL life where things move, and sag, and jiggle. Here are a few treatments and products that can help with neck skin texture, laxity, crepiness, and lines.
After I first noticed laxity in my neck I started using my Alpha Ret on my neck more often and I started wearing sunscreen on my neck EVERY DAY! I use the Skin Better Tone Smart – most of us do. It blends perfectly. If you’re in your 20s and 30s reading this WEAR YOUR DANG SUNSCREEN!! If you’re 40+ like all of us, shame on you if you’re not wearing your sunscreen! It’s one of the few preventatives for your skin health you can take advantage of. The sun is one of the most damaging elements for your skin: it breaks down the collagen that keeps skin firm. So don’t let it do more damage!
Staff favorite sunscreens: Skin Better Tone Smart or any of the Elta MD facial sunscreens.
Other products for the neck are:
Skin Ceuticals Neck Repair: Tripeptide-R Neck Repair is a slow-release retinol with peptides to target multiple signs of visible neck aging: helps improve lines, wrinkles, crepiness and laxity.
Skin Better Face + Neck
This product does not have a retinol but uses peptides and collagen to firm and lift skin.
Injectables for the Neck. If you need a little more than just skincare, there are a few injectable options that have great results. Let’s start with Botox. The platysmal bands in the neck (the vertical bands on both sides of your neck that you can see when you grimace) can cause lines to form over time and can also cause drooping of the skin with age. These muscles can be injected with Botox to relax them which can also help smooth the overlaying skin.
Additionally, “microtox” or micro injections of Botox/Dysport/Xeomin, can be used to create a lifting effect, improving laxity and crepiness. Micro injections are placed more shallowly than the traditional injections that go into the muscle.
If lines are a little deeper, or have existed for some time, dermal filler may be a better treatment option. Injections of dermal filler in the neck are shallow so a delicate filler is needed to fill such superficial creases. We have often used Belotero, but recently Kysse has been working well, as it integrates easily into the tissue, giving a smooth seamless result.
Light Treatment for the Neck. Injections not for you? No worries…we have Skin Tyte too.
Skin Tyte is part of our Sciton Joule – the machine that also has the Halo and BBL modalities. Skin Tyte is part of the BBL modality and uses that same broadband light technology, together with selective thermolysis (heating of the tissue), to deeply heat your skin to stimulate collagen. The treatment is fairly quick. It is very comfortable with some heat that builds towards the end of each treatment area. Results take some time (as long as a few months for full results). You will need 6 sessions 1 week apart. After that you can return for maintenance sessions whenever you feel it’s needed.
