Platysmal bands

There are lots of overlapping muscles in our neck to support our head: deep and superficial muscles.

The platysma muscle is a superficial muscle found on the anterior part of the neck extending up the neck and inserting in the mandible and the corners of the mouth. Contracting this muscle enables us to lower or move our lower lip. Using the platysma muscle, we can express doubt, disgust but also fear or horror and bitterness.

By pulling the facial tissue downwards, this platysma muscle causes the facial contours to sag but also the appearance of jowls. Treatment with botulinum toxin to relax this muscle and thus prevent the aging of the lower part of the face is currently pending a marketing authorisation.

The skin of our neck is particularly delicate. Very fine, it is exposed all year round to aggressions (cold, the sun’s UV rays) and is under a great deal of stress as a result of the movements of all the muscles in the neck.

With time the skin becomes creased, wrinkles form, and it loses moisture. Mesotherapy helps plump the skin of the neck.

The platysma muscle is also firmly attached to the skin of the neck and in the long run, its contractions lastingly leave their mark on the skin. As it pulls on the skin, the latter loosens, and, gradually with age, wrinkles and what are known as the platysmal bands appear. Located on either side of the neck, on the left and right, the two bands become increasingly visible due to the hypertrophy of the muscle fibres (another consequence of aging).

These unsightly bands, of which the size and intensity vary from person to person, tend to make the neck and entire face look older.

Again, treatment with botulinum toxin helps limit muscle hypertrophy and thus improve these platysmal bands as much as possible.

If you wish to lastingly treat the platysmal bands and smooth the skin of the neck, a neck and face lift is the benchmark treatment in esthetic neck surgery. This procedure can correct marks of aging, the platysmal bands and neck wrinkles, without changing the architecture of the face. Once again, the surgery can be maintained and supplemented with botulinum toxin injections to ensure it lasts as long as possible.