What Causes Sagging Neck Issues?

by: Linda Robison

Woman over 60 with sagging neck skin.

What causes sagging neck, droopy skin, turkey neck or neck cording? How to get rid of platysmal bands naturally?

While thinning skin, gravity, sun exposure (along with tech neck) are in part to blame for the signs of aging, the primary culprit for sagging neck skin is the platysma muscle.

The platysma muscle gets shorter, stiffer, and weaker as we age.

Platysma muscle in the neck.Platysma Muscle

This major muscle in the neck is a power horse when it comes to lifting/firming the neck area and the whole lower part of your face.

What is the platysma muscle?

The platysma muscle is a flat, broad muscle.

This muscle stretches across the entire upper chest, shoulders, collarbone, up the sides of the neck, under the chin and wraps across the lower whole jaw bone.

This muscle is also used to move the mouth and lips up and down and sideways. 

How platysma bands make your neck look old

To keep your lower face lifted the platysma muscles are essential.

The problem is this muscle starts to sag pretty early in life because it is a “floating muscle.”

A floating muscle means it's not attached to facial ligaments or bone. And, to make things worse, the platysma is naturally pulled forward by its own contraction.

Older woman with neck wrinkles and neck rings.

Also, with age, the platysma bands become stiff and fibrous and begin to separate in the center of the neck.

This separation contributes to vertical neck bands (sometimes referred to as turkey neck, turkey wattle, or neck cording.1), crepey skin, horizontal lines, and premature aging of the entire neck area.

All of this combined with the reduction in collagen and elastin (thinner skin) causes the look of a sagging neck.

Can you fix a sagging neck without surgery

Woman getting Botox in her neck area.

In-office options for sagging neck

In-Office Options for Sagging Neck
Can a non-surgical neck tightening treatment fix or firm up a sagging neck?

That depends on how much loose skin you have or how badly damaged your neck skin and muscles are. If you have a fair degree of skin laxity, muscle atrophy, and/or excess neck fat, neck lift surgery is probably the only option.

Usually, situations like this will require multiple procedures to reduce stubborn fat, tighten muscles, and trim excess skin. You would need to consult a plastic surgeon on which top neck rejuvenation procedures will offer the best results.

But, for those with mild skin laxity, good muscle tone, and good health, there are some non-surgical neck tightening in-office procedures and at-home treatment options that might help improve the look of a sagging neck and reduce the visible signs of aging.

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Nefertiti Neck Lift

A Nefertiti Lift is where small amounts of Botox are injected directly into the muscle bands in your neck.

These muscle bands are responsible for pulling your whole lower face/jawline downward. And paralyzing these muscles causes them to relax and lift upward giving your face the appearance of a slight lower face lift.2

Not everyone is a candidate for this treatment, especially if you have excess loose neck skin. Besides being evaluated by a physician, you can get an idea if this is right for you by taking this test.

Look in the mirror and say the word "Eeeeeee" very strongly.

If you see bands of muscles protruding from the middle and sides of your neck, chances are this procedure might be right for you.

Ultherapy - best for saggy skin

Unlike radio frequency (RF) and laser treatments, which focus on improving the outer texture of thin skin.

Ultherapy uses sound waves to find and deliver a focused beam of sound to a certain level in the skin to prompt the body to develop more, improving collagen production and elastic tissue around the area.

This results in a noticeable lifting of the skin... smoothing out of creases, wrinkles, and folds on the neck. While Ultherapy is somewhat painful, no general anesthesia is needed aside from some topical numbing cream. Recovery time is usually for a few days.

General side effects include: bruising, swelling, redness and sunburn like pain and sensitive skin.

There are other ultrasound energy based options when it comes to laser treatment to tighten sagging neck skin.

Here are just a few of them:

  • CO2 Lasers
  • Erbium Lasers
  • Fractional Lasers
  • IPL (intense pulsed light)

These treatments are considered among the top neck rejuvenation procedures for addressing severe saggy neck skin. Your doctor can help you decide which would be the most effective treatment for your individual case.

Note: None of these office procedures will do much for a double chin.

How do you lift sagging neck: At-home options

Again, depending on the individual situation and the degree of aging some at-home, neck rejuvenation treatments might help improve the look of your neck.

Today, we have some revolutionary at-home skin rejuvenating skin equipment that uses cutting edge technology that’s’ worth looking into.

Radiofrequency (RF) Treatments

Radiofrequency machines tighten sagging neck skin by heating the skin's deeper layers, boosting collagen, hyaluronic acid, and elastin.

Heating the skin cells causes them to pull closer together, thus tightening the skin over time.

It takes several treatments before results are seen (about 4-6 weeks). Then repeated maintenance treatments are required every few months to maintain best results.

Microcurrent Treatments

This skincare routine delivers low levels of electrical stimulation, which helps stimulate collagen and elastin production.

Some say they can see results right away, and results may last about 7-10 days. But, for long-lasting results, you’ll continue treatments on a weekly basis.

Gua Sha microcurrent Vibrating Facial Toning Device

Exercise Neck Muscles

Neck and facial exercises can help neck muscles from becoming stiff and brittle.

Exercises also keep the muscles and connective tissues from atrophying, which helps prevent loose skin (because skin is draped across a firmer, built neck muscle) giving it a smoother look and reduces the appearance of fine lines.

Plus, your face and skin will have a more refreshed, youthful appearance. Bottom line is we age better with facial exercises. 

Massage Neck Skin

The skin loves to be touched and massaged, contrary to what most people think, it increases skin elasticity and improves blood circulation, tone, and firmness. 

Massaging the skin adds to your anti-aging efforts and helps reduce visible signs of aging. 3

Massaging benefits include:

  • increase blood circulation
  • stimulate cell growth
  • helps reduce and maybe even prevent new wrinkle formation
  • helps increase elasticity to the skin

Here is a good neck massaging technique that helps reduce neck wrinkles and firms up the muscles too.

Try this sample neck massage

Carolyn, the developer of this neck massage, is over 74 yrs old in the pictures below.

Take a good look at the skin of her neck. Notice the lack of platysma bands? No old neck skin for her! Her skin texture is that of someone 20 yrs younger.  

Carolyn demonstrates neck firming exercise. Tightens loose skin and firms double chin.
  • Extend your neck up toward the ceiling, leading with your chin and stretch with your bottom jaw.
  • Make a loose fist with both your hands. Your thumbs stick out away from your hands.
  • Place the fingernail sides of both hands against the left side of your jawline and underneath the left ear area. Your hands are side-by-side.
Carolyn from Facial Fitness demonstrates neck firming exercise. Step 2
  • Slide both your hands over the jawline and down the neck while rolling your hands inward as you move your hands down your neck.
  • Continue moving down your neck, while rolling your hands inward - until you end at the collarbone.
Carolyn from Facial Fitness demonstrates neck firming exercise. Step 3

You have now performed 1 slide/round. Now, go back to the top of your jawline and move your hands over about an inch and do the same 10 slides again.

Keep repeating until you've reached the other side of your neck.

Do this about 3 times a week. 

I practice this a few times a week along with a face/neck exercise. And trust me, it's worth the extra effort! Just look at my before and after pictures.

Note: If you have issues with your hands like arthritis, you can use a massaging tool like the Kansa wand (as shown below) to help tone and massage the neck skin and muscles.

Linda using the Kansa Wand for neck wrinkles.Here is my Kansa wand. I start at one end of my neck and move across until I've reached the other side.

Hydrate and Feed Your Skin

To help further improve the quality and look of your delicate skin hydrate it with a nutrient rich cream or oil.

The neck has fewer oil glands and applying a good skin cream can really make a temporary difference and give your neck tighter skin tone with a more youthful look. 

I use CFF Moisture Plus on my face and neck. It's organic and very rich and a little goes a long way. 

Also, consider add an anti-aging, anti-wrinkle serum or creams like gentle retinol serums. 

How effective are these tips to reduce sagging neck

Short of surgery, nothing will make your neck look like it did when you were 20.

But the good news is, it’s fixable to a degree.

1. A comprehensive Face and Neck exercise program is a natural and effective solution to help firm the neck area  - and the rest of the face.

2. Massage and stretching the skin and muscles keeps them in shape.

3. Hydrating the skin makes it look smoother and softer - temporarily, while feeding it with a good anti-aging cream may help slow the aging process.

How do I know these tips work? 

Because I've been doing them for a while. And you can see the improvements in my before and after neck firming pictures. 

You can also see how I reduced age spots (brown spots) using pure vitamin C cream that I mix up at home.

Final sagging neck skin care routine tip

As always, don't forget to apply sunscreen all over the front of the neck and chest to protect against sun damage and dark spots.

What have you tried to fix a sagging neck? Did it work well?

Feel free to share your experience with us. 



FAQ: How do you lift sagging neck? 

Q: When does neck skin start to sag?

A: It's hard to say what age a neck starts to sag, as this will vary from person to person.

But generally speaking, neck sagging or laxity becomes noticeable in the late 40s or early 50s.

Also, if you take care of your skin by:

  • using sunscreen
  • massage it and exercise neck muscles
  • feed it with good antioxidant creams
  • vitamin C serums

You can delay or minimize the appearance of neck sagging.

Q: Do chin straps work for turkey neck?

A: No. Chin straps can't lift and firm underlying muscles that causes turkey neck look. Also, it won't help firm the skin either. 

Q: Does Botox get rid of saggy neck?

A: No. Botox can be used to relax straining muscles that contribute to certain neck lines and wrinkles. But it won't have any effect on sagging neck muscles.

The best candidate for this treatment is someone with fairly firm neck skin. However, if your muscles are weak and the neck area is crepey, Botox won't do much but empty your wallet.


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