Many women over 50 seek solutions to reduce their double chin. While hormonal changes often influence its development, they aren’t the only factor responsible.
The chin area naturally contains little collagen and elastin, two essential proteins for maintaining firmness.
In addition, the fact that the neck is in constant motion makes the skin sag more easily.
What is a double chin?
A double chin is an accumulation of fatty tissue under the chin, or sagging and loss of elasticity in the neck area.
Having a double chin is very common in both men and women, and it doesn’t always indicate a health problem or obesity. What causes a double chin? There can be many reasons:
- Genetics
- Loss of elasticity. Over time, skin tends to lose firmness and elasticity. Sun damage in this area of the body can also affect collagen and elastin, causing a decrease in skin firmness and subsequent sagging.
- Aging
- Bad habits. Poor diet, a sedentary lifestyle, and tobacco use can negatively affect this area of the body.
In general, it is usually from the age of 30 onwards that our skin can begin to experience the presence of a double chin or begin to notice premature signs of aging.
Ways to reduce a double chin:
#1) Healthy lifestyle
First of all, if you want to reduce a double chin, it is important to follow a healthy lifestyle, limiting the consumption of alcohol, sugar and salt, as these cause fluid retention, which leads to an increase in fatty tissue.
#2) Exercises to tone the neck
You can also do various exercises to strengthen and tone the muscles in that area . However, consistency and patience are essential for achieving the best results.
A very simple exercise you can do is to pronounce the vowels with your mouth wide open (it’s best to do this in front of a mirror). This way, you’ll notice how the entire area around your chin tenses up.
Hold your mouth open for about 10 seconds on each vowel. You should repeat this exercise at least twice a day.
Another recommended exercise is to sit with your back straight and your arms hanging down at your sides, fully extended. Then, stretch your neck forward as far as you can and then turn it to one side, holding that position for a few seconds.
Return to the starting position and repeat the movement to the opposite side. Repeat the exercise 10 times, at least twice a day.
In some cases, no matter how consistent you are, exercises don’t produce the desired results, and you may need to resort to specific treatments tailored to each person’s needs and type of double chin. Some treatments for improving a double chin include cavitation and mesotherapy.
#3) Chin liposuction
If the double chin is large, surgery can be used (the fat pad that makes up the double chin is removed through a small incision) or laser lipolysis, which consists of dissolving the fat by introducing a flexible optical fiber that conducts the laser emission and produces a photothermal effect; that is, it heats the fat cells to destroy them but without causing any damage to the adjacent tissues.
Once the fat has dissolved, it can be extracted in three ways:
- By aspiration using a syringe
- By massaging the treated area and suctioning the fat through the small incision made for the procedure,
- Allowing it to be absorbed by the macrophages present in normal tissue.
What are the benefits of this technique?
With traditional liposuction, the treated area tends to become flabby once the fat is aspirated; however, with laser lipolysis, this does not occur, since the photothermal effect, in addition to dissolving the fat, stimulates proteins, creating new collagen in the area, which improves its elasticity and ultimately adapts it to the facial contour.
As for the procedure to reduce a double chin, it is performed on an outpatient basis with local anesthesia, which is less invasive and involves less bleeding and inflammation, since the technique used cauterizes the blood vessels in the treated area, making the postoperative period and recovery faster.