With a Master of Science in Dietetics and Exercise Science, 11 years of experience in fitness, and 5 years in nutrition, Hollee Mohni is a professional dedicated to improving individuals' health and confidence through sustainable habits.
After months of following a healthy lifestyle for weight loss, you’ve finally achieved your goal and shed some pounds, but a new problem presents itself. The skin on your neck is sagging and it’s giving you new and unforeseen self-esteem issues. Thankfully, you’re not alone in this.
Saggy neck skin is quite annoying and disappointing, particularly after all the work you’ve put into losing weight. Thankfully, the issue is actually more common than you’d think and there are several options for tightening neck skin after weight loss.
Keep reading for some simple neck lift without surgery tips that will enhance your appearance and boost your self-confidence. These tips on how to tighten neck skin after weight loss will help turn your turkey neck into a beautiful swan neck.
Saggy neck skin, also unofficially known as ‘turkey neck’, is a condition that occurs in many people, regardless of age (7). The most common causes behind saggy skin in the neck are age and sun exposure, in addition to sudden/rapid weight loss.
In the first two options, age and sun exposure lead to a loss of protein – specifically collagen and elastin – which causes the skin to loosen and become saggy. In the case of rapid weight loss, your size simply reduces too quickly for your skin to tighten and catch up.
The skin is the largest organ in the human body with the ability to expand and shrink. During puberty and due to muscle or weight gain, the skin expands to accommodate your new size. If you lose muscle or weight, it can also shrink. However, if you lose fat too quickly, the damaged collagen and elastin fibers (12) in the skin have no time to repair and the skin doesn’t get a chance to catch up with your new size. This means you end up with saggy skin.
In addition to these factors, the skin on your neck can also become loose and saggy due to aspects such as:
As stated above, quick weight loss is a huge culprit in the development of the dreaded ‘turkey neck’.
Studies on bariatric surgery and body contouring patients have found that quick and massive weight loss – up to 100+ pounds – can leave patients with significant amounts of loose-hanging excess skin and tissue that can only be addressed through surgery (4, 15). Over-stretched skin also has less collagen and goes through composition changes that make it more difficult for it to retighten (1).
Thankfully, unlike loose skin in the arms or belly area, a ‘turkey neck’ isn’t as much and doesn’t always require surgery to correct it.
Luckily, there are several at-home ways to tighten neck skin after weight loss without surgery, including:
Like any other part of the body, the neck and the face contain muscles. Exercising a muscle tones both the muscle and the skin around it.
According to Marie Claire, doing some face, chin, and neck exercises boosts blood circulation, stimulates collagen production, and helps tone the skin, which leads to fresher, toned, and more healthy and youthful-looking skin (11). That being said, it’s important to note that scientific debate on whether such exercises work remains limited and conflicting.
In a systematic review published in 2013 in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal, researchers stated that while some studies have shown that facial exercises prove effective in facial rejuvenation, most of these findings are purely subjective and could be based on bias. Therefore, they called for more in-depth and larger trials to determine if and whether facial exercises are truly effective (17).
In 2018, in a pilot study published in JAMA Dermatology, researchers examined the relationship between a 20-week facial exercise program with middle-aged women’s facial appearance. At the end of the program, researchers concluded that 30 minutes of facial exercises daily or every other day can help improve mid-face and lower-face fullness and neck volume scale (2).
This means that such a routine may help minimize saggy skin around the jowls, chin, and throat (2).
While some claim that face and neck exercises may work to improve the appearance of these areas, some are clearly against it, meaning that more research on the matter is required. If you still want to give facial exercises a try, here are two simple neck-tightening exercises you can try today:
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Some people believe that stretching the neck daily can help make the turkey-like skin firm. They believe that sagging neck skin can be fixed by stretching, which trains the skin to be taut instead of loose and also improves circulation and blood flow to the areas, which can help improve elasticity.
The ‘chew’ is one good example of a neck stretch:
Facial yoga falls into the same category as face and neck exercises. It is believed that as this unappealing skin is caused by flaccid muscles, loose skin, and fat, you may be able to make it firm by exercising your neck with facial yoga moves.
According to WebMD, this practice can improve facial expression and appearance while also improving facial muscle tone, which improves the thickness of these muscles. As previously stated, thicker muscles help boost the firmness of the skin around them and can help keep gravity from pulling the fat and skin down (19)
One facial yoga move you can try is to engage your neck with your mouth closed. Sitting back on a chair with your back straight, slowly lean your head back until you’re facing the ceiling. In this posture, pout your lips as if you’re kissing the ceiling and retain this position for a few seconds. Repeat this 10 times.
As the neck contains fewer oil glands than the face, the skin may quickly become dry and wrinkle. Give your neck some love by applying serum and moisturizer, just like on your face by following the cleanse-and-tone routine, then finishing with some cream application to boost blood circulation.
Also try to use creams, oils, and lotions that contain ingredients such as retinoids, the chemical derivatives of vitamin A that consist of tretinoin, adapalene, and retinoic acid. A study examining the effects of retinoids in the treatment of skin aging found that this compound helps boost collagen production in sun-aged skin (13).
Remember that collagen can help when applied topically, but mostly when ingested orally. Collagen supplements improve skin moisture, elasticity, and hydration – all factors that can reduce wrinkling and skin sagging and give a more youthful look and bounce to the skin (5).
Those that contain hyaluronic acid can also be used as they attract and hold onto water molecules, thereby helping to increase skin firmness, minimize the depth of wrinkles, and minimize skin roughness (10, 9). In addition to retinol or Vitamin A and 0.1% concentrated hyaluronic acid to decrease laxity and keep your skin hydrated, another source encourages the use of topical creams and lotions with a mixture of (8):
While weight loss is the main culprit behind loose skin in this area, the opposite may sometimes be the cause. Extra fat, specifically subcutaneous fat, hiding under the skin can lead to wrinkly neck skin.
In a recent study in Skin Research and Technology, researchers stated that subcutaneous fat infiltrates into the dermal layer with aging and impairs skin elasticity. This then enhances wrinkle formation, which can make the skin appear aged and loose (16).
While findings in this study were restricted to the face area – specifically the eye, neck, and cheek area – there’s nothing to say that this may not happen to the neck as well. The solution here would be to lose weight gradually to avoid more loosening of the skin and to use collagen topically and orally to prevent more lost elasticity.
Taking care of your skin topically is all well and good, but the best way to improve the elasticity of the neck skin and improve tightness is to eat a diet that allows these compounds to work from the inside out.
Collagen-rich foods include milk, tofu, nuts such as almonds, cottage cheese, lentils, legumes, seeds, and seafood. Vitamins A, C, and E, minerals such as selenium, copper and zinc, fatty acids, polyphenols, and carotenoids are also known to help improve skin elasticity, firmness, wrinkles, dryness, hydration, and color (3).
You should fill your diet with foods rich in collagen too as these nutrients and your skin will thank you for it. Adding these foods to your 30-day diet for weight loss can help prevent this loose skin issue from occurring in the first place.
Read more: Anti-Aging Diet 101: What to Eat (and Avoid) for Radiant Skin and Vitality
Human skin is said to contain approximately 64% water (18).
Without proper hydration, collagen and elastin can break down more quickly, which leads to the formation of fine lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin. Drinking more water prevents dehydration and can also help improve skin physiology, preventing and perhaps even tightening the skin (6). Consuming at least 9 to 13 cups of water daily may keep your skin hydrated and protect its elasticity.
Massaging this area is another great way to tighten neck skin. You use these rollers to roll up the skin on your neck once a day.
These rollers are designed to help with blood flow and lymphatic drainage, eliminate puffiness, plump out wrinkles, and kick-start facial muscles. They’re also applicable for tightening skin on the face. Massaging loose skin enhances blood flow and helps evoke an anti-aging response.
Basic lifestyle changes such as wearing sunscreen, remaining hydrated, and letting go of harmful habits such as smoking and using skin products with harsh chemicals may make your skin look fresher and less saggy.
Prevention is always easier than the cure. While you’re following a weight loss plan, remember to do the following to prevent loose fat from making your neck sag:
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Yes, it can. Loose skin on any part of the body doesn’t need to be a life-long curse. As evidenced above, there are multiple non-invasive ways to tighten loose skin after weight loss. If none of these ways work, it may be time to consider medical and/or surgical treatments to help improve the issue.
Exercise doesn’t necessarily tighten loose skin. What it does is help you build muscle – particularly if you’re doing resistance training – which makes your muscles bigger and effectively improves the appearance of loose skin.
The skin around your neck starts sagging after the age of 40, but it can happen sooner with rapid weight loss or mistreatment of the skin, such as through regular high UV sun exposure.
As mentioned above, both topical and oral use of collagen can help improve skin elasticity, which can improve saggy skin in your face, body, and neck (5).
Loss of face weight can be due to a number of reasons such as aging, weight loss, hormonal changes, smoking, stress, or an underlying illness.
A slow metabolic rate makes weight loss almost impossible and puts you at a higher risk of several chronic illnesses. To reset your metabolism, you need to:
When it comes to how to tighten neck skin after weight loss, there are several at-home options you can use. Most of these options rely on the improved production of collagen and elastin to boost more youthful skin.
That being said, it’s important to note that such at-home tips produce mild to moderate results and while the non-surgical methods can be effective, they usually online yield temporary results. Surgery works best, but it should be your last option after having exhausted all other options.
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