Dr. Simran Sethi:
We’re going to talk about how to reduce the appearance, or take away, a double chin without surgery. If you enjoy learning about medical aesthetic treatments, skincare, and just beauty trends in general, please follow, like, and ask us any questions in the comments.
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Double chins can be on anyone, even if they are very lean. And there are a lot of people who actually are at their optimal weight, young, but they still have a little bit of stubborn fat underneath their chin. I like to start assessing for how to treat a double chin by first palpating the area. Sometimes a double chin is actually more skin laxity versus fat that is sitting underneath the chin. Depending on which is the more predominant issue guides where we start. I feel like when we’re looking at double chin, there are three kinds of people or presentations. A lean person who just has stubborn fat that is underneath their chin. The second is someone who is maybe in their 40s or older and they have laxity below their chin area and not very much fat. This can also be someone who is young, but has recently lost a lot of weight. The third person is actually a combination of both. They have some laxity and they have some stubborn fat.
But starting with the person who just has stubborn fat underneath their chin, there are beautiful surgical options. The first one that I like to put people through because it doesn’t have any downtime, is very comfortable and very effective, is a laser treatment called sculpture. Sculpture is a treatment that delivers a laser that breaks down, permanently, fat cells underneath the skin. The other thing that I like about sculpture as a treatment for double chin is that it has been FDA approved for permanent destruction of fat underneath the skin and for a little bit of tightening in the chin area. So it basically accomplishes all the things we need to tighten or snatch your jawline and chin. Typically, people need anywhere from two to three treatments. They’re spaced about four to six weeks apart.
I would say 90% of the time I have my patients do three treatments, they have the best results. Then when it comes to downtime, sculpture has absolutely no downtime. You are going to have a 25-minute treatment and you can just walk out of it, you shouldn’t have any swelling or redness in the area. Sculpture is a comfortable treatment. Most people state that it has a discomfort level of about two to three on a scale of 10, 10 being the most uncomfortable.
The second solution for a double chin is a injection called Kybella. Kybella is essentially an enzyme or substance that permanently breaks down fat. Kybella is injected in small amounts in the chin area, and usually people need anywhere from three to four sessions, again, spaced about four to six weeks apart. The only reason I don’t always go first to Kybella is because it does have quite a bit of downtime. After the injection, there is going to be quite a bit of swelling in the chin area that can last anywhere from 10 days to two weeks. Because this is an area that someone is already trying to de-emphasize no one likes having downtime for that amount of time.
There are a few instances where my patients will for some reason just not respond to sculpture, in which case I will do one or two sessions of Kybella. But overall, Kybella is my second option when it comes to permanent fat reduction under the chin. After we have done all these treatments, I do see the patient three months later to assess for any skin laxity. In most cases, they look great, they have a really nice snatched jawline. But sometimes if they’re a little older or they’ve lost a lot of weight recently, they may have some skin laxity. And, again, this also addresses that second type of scenario where someone doesn’t have any fat but just has skin laxity. In this case, I will use a treatment called all therapy. All therapy is an ultrasound-based treatment where an ultrasound is used to deliver heat to the muscle area of the face and neck and the skin.
If we do all therapy in the jawline, it will tighten the skin under our chin, and again, this process does take three to six months to show results, but it’s one treatment, is relatively comfortable, and it has zero downtime. If you are considering reduction of the double chin, do come in and see if you are a candidate for non-surgical treatments because for the most part, most people are candidates for non-surgical reduction or elimination of the double chin. If you enjoy learning about medical aesthetic treatments, skincare, beauty trends, please follow us, like, and ask us any questions in the comments.
