A turkey neck is loose skin below the jaw, often with two vertical cords running down the front of the neck, and it is a skin and muscle problem, not a fat problem. It can be fixed, but not by exercises or creams: once the skin has stretched and the platysma muscle has separated into bands, a neck lift with platysmaplasty is what restores the line from chin to throat, and radiofrequency tightening can help while a case is still mild.
What a Turkey Neck Is
A youthful neck runs in a clean line from the chin to the throat and turns a sharp corner under the jaw. Three things blur that corner, often together: skin that has lost its recoil and hangs in a soft wattle, the platysma muscle separating so its edges show as vertical bands, and a pad of fat under the chin. "Turkey neck" describes the first two; the fat is a different problem with a different fix, covered on our page about the double chin.
The platysma is a thin sheet of muscle running from the upper chest up across the jawline. In youth its two halves meet in the midline under the chin and hold the neck flat; with age the inner edges drift apart, and each free edge shows as a cord when you grit your teeth, then at rest. That is a platysmal band, and muscle tone cannot close it, because the problem is separation, not weakness.
A test at home sorts the two. Pinch the skin under your chin: if you lift a soft pad and it springs back, fat is doing most of the work; if the skin stays lifted or hangs in a fold, or two cords appear when you say "eee" through clenched teeth, it is skin and muscle, which is this page.
Why It Happens
Age is the usual reason. Neck skin is thin, with fewer oil glands and less support than the skin of the face, so it shows collagen loss early, and the elastic fibers that give skin its recoil fragment faster than they are replaced. Sun does the same work sooner: the front of the neck gets the same ultraviolet exposure as the face and far less sunscreen. Genetics sets the starting point, from the position of the hyoid bone (a low hyoid gives a blunt neck angle from birth) to the decade in which the platysma begins to separate. None of this is something you did wrong.
Weight loss uncovers the problem rather than causing it. Fat shrinks and skin does not, so the envelope the fat held taut hangs once it is empty; a woman who has lost forty pounds can have a looser neck than she had at her heaviest, and patients losing weight quickly on a GLP-1 medication see it within months, which is where the phrase Ozempic face comes from. Reach a stable weight and hold it for several months before any neck surgery, so the skin we remove is the skin that will stay loose.
Why Exercises and Creams Cannot Fix It
Neck exercises, chin lifts and tongue presses train the platysma and the small muscles under the jaw. They can improve posture and tone, and they do nothing for the two things that make a turkey neck: skin stretched past its elastic limit does not shorten because the muscle beneath it works harder, and separated muscle edges do not knit back together with contractions. If anything, a stronger platysma pulls the bands into sharper relief, since the bands are the muscle. The before and after exercise photos online show a change of posture and lighting, or weight loss in someone whose skin still had recoil.
Creams and "neck firming" serums hydrate the outer layer and smooth crepey texture for a few hours; a retinoid used for years thickens the skin slightly, which is worth doing for its own sake. None of them rebuilds elastic fibers, and none touches the muscle.
What Non-Surgical Treatments Can and Cannot Do
Some of these we offer and some we do not, and every one of them stops well short of a neck lift.
Botox for Neck Bands
Botox relaxes the platysma. Injected along a band, it softens the cord for about three to four months and eases the muscle's downward pull on the jawline, the effect marketed as a "Nefertiti lift". It removes no skin and tightens nothing, it suits early bands that show only when you grimace, and it has to be repeated. At our practice Botox for platysmal neck bands is injected by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon; read about Botox for neck bands, and ask us whether a small dose in the bands makes sense for you.
ThermiSmooth and Venus Viva MD for Mild Laxity
Radiofrequency heats the deeper skin to stimulate new collagen. ThermiSmooth delivers it through a handpiece on the surface, in a course of three to four one-hour sessions with no anesthesia and no downtime. Venus Viva MD pairs radiofrequency with microneedling so the energy reaches deeper, with a day or two of redness. Both firm mildly crepey skin and can push back the day surgery makes sense; neither lifts a hanging fold or moves a band. Our comparison of neck tightening treatments puts the three side by side: ThermiSmooth for mild excess skin, Venus Viva for mild to moderate, a neck lift for anything more. Thread lifts and ultrasound devices, which we do not offer, give a modest, temporary change and do nothing for the platysma; nothing sold as a non-surgical neck lift removes skin, because only surgery removes skin.
The Neck Lift: Platysmaplasty and Skin Removal
A neck lift (lower rhytidectomy) is the operation for a turkey neck, and it does two separate things. The first is the platysmaplasty: through a short incision hidden in the crease under the chin, our board-certified facial plastic surgeon brings the separated edges of the platysma back together in the midline and tightens the sheet, so the bands disappear and the muscle becomes a firm sling again. The second is the skin: through incisions that sit inside the tragus (the small flap in front of the ear canal), curve under the earlobe and run into the hairline behind the ear, he lifts the skin off the muscle, redrapes it over the new contour and trims the excess. If there is fat under the chin as well, liposuction comes first and stays conservative, because taking too much fat there leaves hollows that look older than the fullness did.
The operation is done under general anesthesia with a board-certified anesthesiologist in our accredited surgical facility and takes about two to three hours on its own. The neck is marked with you sitting upright, because a neck marked lying flat lifts in the wrong direction, and the deep layers are closed so the skin closure carries no tension, which is what keeps the scars thin. For midline bands with mild skin excess, a direct neck lift through the chin incision alone may be an option, sometimes under local anesthesia with sedation, with a recovery measured in days. The detail is on the neck lift in Beverly Hills page.
When a Face and Neck Lift Is the Answer
The neck does not age alone. When the tissue along the jawline has slipped past the bone into jowls, a neck lift on its own tightens the neck and leaves the jawline soft, and the mismatch shows. The surgeon then connects the neck incision to a facelift incision and lifts the face and neck as one unit, repositioning the SMAS layer of the face together with the platysma, the same sheet under two names. Read about the facelift and neck lift in Beverly Hills, and our page on sagging jowls for how to tell whether your jawline has gone too.
What Dr. Cat Looks For at the Consultation
The consultation is an examination. Dr. Cat pinches the neck skin to judge how much excess there is and whether it recoils, asks you to grimace so the bands show, feels for fat above and below the platysma, checks the hyoid position and the chin, and looks along the jawline for jowling. From that she tells you which plan fits, from radiofrequency and patience to a face and neck lift, and sometimes that the answer is to wait while your weight settles. Smokers stop for at least two months before surgery, because nicotine starves the lifted skin of blood. The surgical consultation fee is $500, credited toward surgery; the discovery call is free.
Before and After
Photos show how sharp the angle under the jaw becomes, whether the bands are gone, and how the scar around the ear looks at six months. Find a neck like yours in our neck lift before and after photos, and study the profile views, where a turkey neck shows most.
Recovery in Brief
You wear a compression dressing around the head and neck for the first two weeks and small drains for the first few days; stitches come out at about a week, and Tylenol is usually all that is needed. Desk work resumes at about two weeks, vigorous exercise at four, and the final contour shows at three to four months. Scar care starts at two weeks with silicone and sun protection, and our post on neck lift scars follows the lines month by month as they fade. Results typically hold for ten to fifteen years, with aging continuing from the new baseline.
Cost in One Line
A neck lift on its own is quoted at your consultation, and for a face and neck lift our facial plastic surgeon's fee is $45,500 to $65,500, with the operating room and anesthesia quoted at the consultation. Surgeon's fees are typical ranges: a more complex case can cost more, and your fee is set at your consultation and is final only in your written quote. Our neck lift cost guide explains what goes into the quote and how financing works.
Frequently Asked Questions About Turkey Neck
How do I get rid of the turkey neck?
A true turkey neck is loose skin and separated platysma bands, and the only treatment that removes the skin and repairs the bands is a neck lift with platysmaplasty. Radiofrequency can firm mildly crepey skin and Botox can soften early bands for a few months; exercises and creams change neither.
Can I tighten my saggy neck without surgery?
Only a little. ThermiSmooth and Venus Viva MD firm mild laxity, and Botox relaxes early bands for three to four months. Nothing non-surgical shortens stretched skin or rejoins separated muscle, so a hanging fold or fixed bands need a neck lift.
Will my turkey neck go away as I lose weight?
No, and it often looks worse. Weight loss shrinks the fat under the chin but cannot shorten skin, so the loose envelope hangs more once the fat that filled it is gone. Reach a stable weight and hold it for several months before a neck lift.
Do neck creams really work for turkey neck?
Creams hydrate the surface and smooth crepey texture for a few hours; a retinoid used for years thickens the skin slightly. No cream rebuilds the elastic fibers that let skin recoil or reaches the platysma, so no cream lifts a fold or removes a band.
What are platysmal bands and can Botox fix them?
Platysmal bands are the free edges of the platysma muscle showing as vertical cords once its two halves have separated under the chin. Botox softens early bands for three to four months but cannot rejoin the edges; a platysmaplasty during a neck lift sutures them back together.
Talk to Dr. Cat About Your Neck
If the neck in your photos no longer matches the rest of you, start with a free discovery call or call (310) 858-8808, and we will tell you whether a consultation with Dr. Cat makes sense. Before you visit, look through the neck lift before and after photos and the full neck lift in Beverly Hills page.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACS, board-certified plastic surgeon. Last reviewed September 2026.