Contact & consultation

Arranging an assessment

Outpatient appointments are booked through the hospital on the numbers below; international patients can ask for Michael Yu. Bring photographs of yourself from several years ago if you have them, because they show how the neck has changed rather than only how it looks now. Bring a note of your weight history, because whether it has been stable matters to both operations, and mention any previous neck procedure.

What a good assessment includes

An examination of the neck at rest and when tensed, an assessment of how the skin behaves when it is lifted, and a judgement about how much of the fullness is fat and how much is skin or muscle. The jawline and the neck should be assessed separately, because a jawline problem may belong to the face rather than to the neck. You should leave able to say which of the three tissues has changed, what each operation would do about it, and what each would leave exactly as it is.

Asking about the plan

If liposuction is proposed, ask how the skin is expected to retract and what the plan is if it does not. If a lift is proposed, ask where the incisions will sit, what will be done about the muscle, and whether fat is being removed at the same time and why. Ask what would make either operation the wrong one for you; a specific answer is the sign of an assessment rather than a presentation.

Before you commit

No decision needs to be made at the first appointment, and neither operation needs to be chosen before the examination has named which tissue has changed. Take the plan away, read it against the guides on this site, and come back with questions. A discount that expires, or pressure to book before an assessment is complete, is information about the clinic rather than about your neck.