One muscle blurs your jaw border and raises the cords in your neck. Relaxing the platysma holds 3 to 4 months.
Book a consultationHave your neck read while tensed
A Nefertiti lift relaxes the platysma, the neck muscle that pulls the jawline down. Most patients take 20 to 40 units, for 3 to 4 months. Treating moderate to severe platysma bands with Botox® Cosmetic is FDA-approved in adults; contouring the jaw border with the same product is off-label.
Most people notice cords, or a blurred jawline. The platysma runs from collarbone to jawline and pulls the jaw border down; relaxing it lets the line read. Treating moderate to severe platysma bands with Botox® Cosmetic is FDA-approved in adults; the jaw-border half of the same treatment, where the injections follow the inferior border of the mandible, is an off-label use the FDA has not reviewed.
Your jaw edge reads again. Botulinum toxin type A blocks the nerve signal, so treated platysma fibers contract less. Along the inferior border of the mandible, the lower jawbone edge, downward tension goes.
| Option | What it acts on | Onset | Typical duration | Regulatory status for this use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nefertiti lift with Botox® Cosmetic | Platysma muscle pull | 3 to 7 days | 3 to 4 months | FDA-approved for moderate to severe platysma bands in adults; jaw-border contouring is off-label |
| Nefertiti lift with Dysport® | Platysma muscle pull | 2 to 3 days, from glabellar data | 3 to 4 months | Off-label; no FDA-approved platysma band indication |
| Jawline filler (hyaluronic acid) | Structure along the mandibular border | Immediate | Maintained at 12 months in the pivotal study, the labeled figure | One hyaluronic acid gel is FDA-approved for improvement of jawline definition in adults over 21; other products and areas are off-label |
| Kybella® (deoxycholic acid) | Fat under the chin | Weeks, over 2 to 4 sessions | Treated fat cells are not expected to return, though weight change still alters the area | FDA-approved for submental fat in adults |
| Surgical neck lift | Skin, muscle and tissue redundancy | Weeks, after healing | Years | Surgical procedure; referred out, not performed here |
What each acts on, onset, duration and regulatory status. Ranges reflect product labeling and practice observation, and the onset figures come from separate indications rather than from head-to-head studies.
Botox® Cosmetic (onabotulinumtoxinA) — Botox® Cosmetic carries an FDA-approved indication for the temporary improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe platysma bands in adults. Labeled dosing for that indication is a fixed regimen tiered by platysma muscle mass, within a range of 26 to 36 units, and it covers the vertical bands only. The 20 to 40 units quoted elsewhere on this page is the total for a treatment that also follows the jaw border, which is the off-label half, so the two figures count different things. The current prescribing information governs, not this page.
Dysport® (abobotulinumtoxinA) — Dysport® has no FDA-approved platysma band indication, so use here is off-label. Its units are not interchangeable with Botox® units, and reported differences in field of effect between the two are debated rather than settled, so placement near the midline stays conservative with either product.
Jeuveau® (prabotulinumtoxinA) — Jeuveau® is FDA-approved for moderate to severe glabellar lines only, so any neck or jawline use is off-label. Onset in the glabellar studies is reported at 2 to 3 days.
Human albumin and sodium chloride (excipients) — Named because a known reaction to human albumin is a labeled contraindication, which makes what the vial holds besides the toxin worth reading.
We look at your neck at rest and under contraction, and check jaw and chin projection.
Bands are marked while you tense, since they flatten at rest. Points stay lateral, away from the midline.
Small aliquots at each marked point, in the plane of the platysma. Roughly ten minutes.
You come back at two weeks, when the muscle reads accurately. A small addition where it still pulls.
The bands are marked while the platysma contracts, because the points worth using only show while the muscle works. Twenty to thirty minutes, ten of them injecting.
Movement softens within the first week; full effect at two weeks. That is when we look again and add a little if the muscle still pulls. A first treatment runs shorter.
Partly, and the two halves are worth separating. Treating moderate to severe platysma bands with Botox® Cosmetic is an FDA-approved indication in adults. Using the same injections along the jaw border to sharpen the mandibular line is an off-label use, which means the drug is the same and the practice is legal and common, but the FDA has not reviewed that particular use. You will hear which half of your plan is which before you consent.
A Nefertiti lift usually takes 20 to 40 units in total, across the bands and the jaw border. Where yours lands depends on how many bands are active. First doses start below the labeled band regimen, since a dose that is too low costs a two-week wait while a dose that is too high lasts the full 3 to 4 months. Units can be added at two weeks, not taken back.
Not in the surgical sense. The name is borrowed from the bust of Nefertiti. It reduces downward muscular pull, so the jaw border reads crisper. Skin is not tightened, fat not reduced, bone not changed.
A Nefertiti lift typically lasts 3 to 4 months. The platysma is large and in near-constant use, so movement returns sooner than in the forehead. A first treatment often runs shorter than the ones after.
Less than most people brace for: brief stings rather than pain, and about ten minutes of injecting. The platysma sits directly under the skin, so the needle is fine and stays shallow. Topical numbing is available.
It can, and that is what depth and placement manage. The muscles that drive swallowing sit deeper and closer to the midline than the platysma. Difficulty swallowing, called dysphagia, voice change and neck weakness are recognized, dose-related risks. Botulinum toxin products carry a boxed warning about effects spreading beyond the injection site. You leave with a number to call.
No. Submental fullness is fat, and sometimes a low-lying salivary gland, and neither responds to a neuromodulator. A Nefertiti lift changes what the platysma does, and nothing else. Fat reduction addresses the fat; filler addresses chin projection.
Sometimes, if you have responded well to it before. Botox® Cosmetic is the default here because it is the product carrying the platysma band indication. Dysport® has no such indication, so neck use is off-label, and its units are not interchangeable with Botox® units. Reported differences in how the two spread are debated rather than settled, so placement near the midline stays conservative with either.
Treatment costs vary with the plan. Contact the practice for current pricing, what is included, and any applicable booking terms.
Nothing is lost by stopping. The platysma returns to what it was doing before, over 3 to 4 months, as new nerve connections form. There is no rebound and no accelerated change from having treated it.
Botulinum toxin products carry a boxed warning about effects spreading beyond the injection site, including swallowing and breathing difficulties. Treatment requires an in-person consultation and a medical eligibility review, and treatment is offered only where it is medically indicated.
Treating moderate to severe platysma bands with Botox® Cosmetic is an FDA-approved indication in adults. Contouring the jaw border with the same technique, and the use of Dysport® or Jeuveau® in this area, are off-label. Off-label use is legal and common in medicine, and we state it again at consultation.
Individual results vary and no specific result is promised. Nothing on this page is medical advice, and the product statements describe regulatory status and behaviour rather than rank one product above another. Botox® is a registered trademark of Allergan, Inc., an AbbVie company; Dysport® is a registered trademark of Ipsen Biopharm Limited, distributed in the United States by Galderma; Jeuveau® is a registered trademark of Evolus, Inc.; Kybella® is a registered trademark of Allergan, Inc. Rouge Aesthetics is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by any of them.
Rouge Aesthetics · 101 Mill Street, Suite 210, Gahanna, OH 43230 · (614) 425-1633
Individual results vary. This website provides general information and does not replace an individual consultation.