Platysmal Band Botox Was Finally Approved to Tighten Your Neck With a Simple Injection
Your snatched jawline awaits.
Walk into your local dermatologist's office or medspa, and you'll find an FDA-approved treatment for almost everything. Plump your lips with filler. Paralyze those 11 lines with some Botox injections. You can even make varicose veins in your hands disappear with a little something called sclerotherapy. But options have historically been limited when rejuvenating the neck and giving your jawline Clark Kent-level definition.
Sure, you can go to town with your gua sha, sculpt temporarily with filler, or seek out ultrasound skin-tightening treatments like Sofwave or Ultherapy (which work by heating tissue to stimulate collagen production). But an FDA-approved neuromodulator capable of tightening the jawline and smoothing vertical lines on the neck hasn’t existed—until now.
Botox just received the first-ever all-clear to be injected into the platysmal bands: the muscle strips running vertically from the collarbone to the jawline. (Look in the mirror, give a big, toothy smile, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.)
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“The platysmal bands are basically like wrinkles on the neck, but they can also pull the entire lower face down so it blunts the jawline,” board-certified dermatologist Sabrina Fabi, MD FAAD, told me in March, shortly after presenting the results of Botox’s clinical trial to treat them at the American Academy of Dermatology conference.
Gravity is inevitable, so the more the platysma muscles contract, the more likely you are to have saggy skin along the jawline or a down-turned smile. By injecting Botox into these platsymal muscles, you can not only lessen the appearance of the actual platysmal bands, explains board-certified dermatologist Terrance Keaney, MD FAAD. You can also snatch the jawline in the process.
This ah-ha moment isn’t new, per se. It’s known to injectors—which is why doctors and nurse practitioners have been Botoxing the platysmal bands off-label for years. However, this FDA approval brings dosage standardization that is game-changing for patient safety and sets the stage for more official injector training. “Before this approval, if you polled 15 doctors how they would dose the area, you would get 15 completely different answers. But there’s wisdom with this big, standardized method, so we’ve been able to dial in on the best dose and improve safety,” says Dr. Keaney.
If you're curious about the treatment and whether you're a candidate, you've come to the right place. Read on to learn everything there is to know about platysmal band Botox.
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What Are the Platysmal Bands?
You may not know the platysmal bands by name, but you've definitely seen them in the mirror. “It’s the muscle that connects your collarbone to your jaw,” explains Dr. Keaney. “When it contracts, it shortens and pulls the skin of the neck outward.” Some people will see their platysmal bands when resting, while others will have to clench their teeth for the bands to appear.
Will Platysmal Band Botox Tighten My Neck and Jawline?
A neck cream can only go so far to firm up skin. If you’re experiencing skin sagging around the mouth, a blunted jawline, and two to four visible platysmal bands while flexing (let's see that clenched, toothy smile), you should see some pretty impressive results from the treatment.
If you have severe skin laxity (that is, loose skin) or a lot of fat around the area, you won't see crazy results. “These people will often need to consider a facelift, CoolSculpting Elite, or a Kybella treatment to dissolve fat," Dr. Keany says.
How Long Does Platysmal Band Botox Last?
You’ll see the full effect of your platysmal band Botox at the two-week mark—just like you would for the face, explains Dr. Keaney. The effects should last anywhere from three to four months, depending on how quickly your body metabolizes the formula.
What Are the Risks of Platysmal Band Botox?
While there are always risks with any kind of injection, FDA approval has standardized the most common platysmal band Botox treatments, creating a safer baseline.
That said, the neck is a delicate area to inject. “The muscles involved in swallowing and chewing are intimately associated, underneath this more superficial muscle that pulls the face down,” explains Dr. Fabi. If incorrectly injected, you may experience something called dysphagia, which is defined by difficulty swallowing or speaking. It’s key to go to a board-certified physician with experience injecting if you're interested in the treatment.
How Does Platysmal Band Botox Compare to Other Neck-Tightening Treatments?
Treating the neck is a 360-degree ordeal, so your doctor might want to combine several different technologies to achieve the desired results. Skin-tightening laser treatments, for example, will typically be used in tandem with platysmal band Botox. “They’re complimentary because you’re treating two components of why wrinkles form on the neck: part of that is from the muscle pulling the skin out, and the other is skin losing its strength over time,” says Dr. Keaney.
Samantha Holender is the Beauty Editor at Marie Claire, where she reports on the best new launches, dives into the science behind skincare, and shares the breakdown on the latest and greatest trends in the beauty space. She's studied up on every ingredient you'll find on INCI list and is constantly in search of the world's glowiest makeup products. She's constantly tracking the biggest nail and hair trends to pop up in the beauty space, going backstage during fashion weeks, tracking celebrity looks, and constantly talking to celebrity hair stylists, nail artists, and makeup artists. Prior to joining the team, she worked as Us Weekly’s Beauty and Style Editor, where she stayed on the pulse of pop culture and broke down celebrity beauty routines, hair transformations, and red carpet looks. Her words have also appeared on Popsugar, Makeup.com, Skincare.com, Delish.com, and Philadelphia Wedding. Samantha also serves as a board member for the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME). She first joined the organization in 2018, when she worked as an editorial intern at Food Network Magazine and Pioneer Woman Magazine. Samantha has a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from The George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs. While at GWU, she was a founding member of the school’s HerCampus chapter and served as its President for four years. When she’s not deep in the beauty closet or swatching eyeshadows, you can find her obsessing over Real Housewives and all things Bravo. Keep up with her on Instagram @samholender.
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