Neck lift in Thailand

"Neck lift" covers several operations of very different size, and Thai quotes reflect that. Before you compare prices, work out which one your neck needs. Two quotes that look far apart are often for different procedures.

Most people who are unhappy with the whole neck rather than only the fat under the chin end up in the last two rows, because loose skin rarely comes alone. If a clinic offers a mini neck lift for a neck with visible bands, ask why.

A neck lift treats what age, weight change and genetics have done to the tissues between the chin and the collarbone: loose or crepey skin, vertical bands from a slack platysma muscle, a fat pad under the chin, and a jawline that has lost its angle. It does not treat skin quality itself, so sun damage and fine horizontal lines remain, and it does not add volume.

Surgeons in Bangkok will usually accept you if:

• your weight is stable and you are not planning to lose a lot more
• you do not smoke, or will stop well before and after the operation, because nicotine starves the lifted skin of blood
• your blood pressure and blood sugar are controlled, and any blood thinners can be paused with your doctor's agreement
• you expect a cleaner angle and smoother skin, not a different face

Men are a growing share of neck lift patients in Thailand; the male neck has thicker skin and a beard line to keep clear of the incisions, so ask about the surgeon's experience with men.

A full neck lift in a Bangkok hospital is done under general anaesthesia or deep sedation with local anaesthetic, takes a few hours, and normally means at least a night on the ward. The steps most surgeons follow:

1. A short incision in the crease under the chin, and incisions that start in front of the ear lobe, run around it and end in the hairline behind the ear.
2. The skin of the neck is lifted off the muscle layer.
3. Fat is removed by liposuction or trimmed directly, above and sometimes below the platysma.
4. The platysma is repaired: the two edges are sewn together in the midline (platysmaplasty) and often tightened sideways towards the ears as well.
5. In deeper techniques the surgeon may also reduce the digastric muscles or the front of the submandibular glands if they push the neck forward.
6. The skin is redraped upward and backward, the excess trimmed, and the incisions closed in layers. Drains are sometimes left overnight.
7. A compression garment goes on before you wake up.

Scar placement. Behind the ear the line follows the crease and the hairline; under the chin it sits in a natural fold. Both fade over the following year but never vanish, so ask to see healed incisions on patients with your skin tone. Keloid-prone and darker skin can scar more heavily, and a surgeon who treats a Thai and international mix will have seen this often.

Most clinics in the listing on this page publish a treatment-only price for a neck lift, and the lowest of them is flagged; a few show price on request. Those figures come from the clinics themselves and are updated with them, which is why the numbers live in the listing rather than in this text.

What moves a quote up or down:

Treatment only or package. A treatment-only price normally covers the surgeon, the theatre, the anaesthetic and the first follow-up visits. Ask specifically about the hospital night, drains and dressings, the garment, medication to take home, scar care, any revision within the first year, and whether the quote is fixed in baht or in your currency. Packages that add hotel nights and transfers exist, in Phuket in particular; compare them line by line.

A written quote in baht. Thai clinics quote in baht and convert for you. Ask for the baht figure in writing after the surgeon has seen your photographs, with a list of what is excluded. A quote given before anyone has looked at your neck is a starting range, not a price.

Insurance and financing. A cosmetic neck lift is not paid for by public health systems, and private and travel policies exclude planned cosmetic surgery abroad in most cases, often its complications too. Read the exclusions before you fly and consider a dedicated medical travel policy. Financing from a Thai clinic is rare; if a clinic advertises payment plans, ask who the lender is and get the terms in writing.

Before you book

Send photographs (front, both sides, chin down and chin up) and a short history: medications, previous surgery, smoking, weight changes. Expect a video consultation with the surgeon rather than only a coordinator, and a written treatment plan naming the operation from the table above.

Arrival and consultation

Arrive a couple of days before surgery. Blood tests, an ECG if your age or history calls for it, photographs and an examination in person. This is where the plan can change: a surgeon who now sees bands that were not obvious on photographs will recommend adding platysmaplasty, and the price changes with it.

Surgery day

Nothing to eat or drink from the night before. The operation, then a night or two on the ward with the head raised, a garment on and sometimes drains.

The first fortnight

Drains come out within a day or two, dressings are changed, and stitches come out in stages over the following week or so. Swelling peaks early and eases; bruising tracks down the neck towards the chest and fades. Most surgeons want to see you at least twice before they clear you to fly.

Flying home

A long-haul flight soon after neck surgery is the part travellers underestimate: cabin pressure and sitting still increase swelling, and the garment has to stay on. Most Bangkok surgeons clear a short flight after the first week and a long-haul flight after the second. Book a flexible return.

A neck lift is elective, and the list below is why the choice of surgeon and hospital matters more than the country:

• Haematoma. Bleeding under the skin in the first night is the reason for the hospital stay and the drains; it is treated by taking you back to theatre.
• Nerve injury. The nerve that moves the lower lip runs along the jaw and can be bruised; a crooked smile is usually temporary, rarely permanent. Numbness of the ear lobe is common early and fades.
• Infection and delayed healing, more likely in smokers and with poorly controlled diabetes.
• Skin loss behind the ear where the skin was pulled tightest, again mainly in smokers.
• Visible or thick scars, more common in darker or keloid-prone skin.
• Contour problems. Removing too much fat can leave a hollow under the chin, sometimes called a cobra neck; bands can persist; the submandibular glands can look more prominent once the fat around them is gone.
• Asymmetry, and a result that is less than hoped for, which is a revision conversation.
• Anaesthesia risks, low in a fit patient at a hospital with an anaesthesiologist present.

Ask the surgeon what they do when each of these happens, and who pays for a revision.

1. Which operation from the table above do you recommend for me, and why not the one above or below it?
2. How many neck lifts and lower facelifts do you do in a typical month?
3. Are you certified by the Thai Board of Plastic Surgery, and where were you trained in facial surgery?
4. Where will I be operated on, who gives the anaesthetic, and where do I sleep on the first night?
5. Will you repair the platysma, and if so how?
6. Where exactly will the incisions run, and can I see healed scars on someone with my skin?
7. What does the quote include, and what would be billed on top?
8. When can I fly home, and what do you do if I have a problem after I have left?
9. What is your revision policy, and who pays?
10. May I speak to a previous international patient?

All three carry a large neck lift trade for visitors. The decision usually comes down to where you live and how you want to recover.

The neck lift in Turkey and neck lift in Mexico pages cover those two options.