Neck Tightening Procedures: What Helps Lines and Loose Skin?

I'm Dr. Hongseok Kim, a board-certified dermatologist with 21 years of practice and the medical director of VOS Dermatology Clinic in Gangnam, Seoul, right in front of Dosan Park. At VOS I see every patient myself, from consultation to the final injection.

When people ask me about neck tightening procedures, they usually mean two things at once: skin that has started to loosen, and the horizontal lines that sit across it. Even with careful skincare, once these lines form they are hard to shift on your own. This page is based on my YouTube video from October 2025, where I treated the lines on my own neck; I rewrote it for readers abroad and updated it to how we work at VOS today. The video above can be watched with translated captions.

Why neck lines and loose neck skin form

Short answer: neck skin is very thin and sits directly on a muscle, so creases and loosening show on the surface very readily.

The skin of the neck is extremely thin, and a broad, flat muscle lies right underneath it (in the video at 00:23). When you tense your neck you can see that muscle move through the skin. Because the two are so closely attached, any weakening of the skin's structure or of the muscle tone shows on the surface as sagging.

Some people develop deep horizontal lines young, from posture or simply from the way their neck folds. I have them myself. In younger patients I mostly see the crease alone. After middle age the picture changes: the skin of the whole neck becomes thinner and less elastic, it starts to look slightly empty and loose, and the horizontal lines sit on top of that. When the looseness becomes marked, some people describe it as a "turkey neck". Most people who come to me have some mix of the two.

Which neck tightening procedures help when the skin is loose

Short answer: creases and laxity are different problems, so I usually combine a collagen-stimulating booster for the loose skin with a soft filler for the lines, and add other steps only when sagging is marked.

If the neck is loose and lined, filling only the lines gives limited improvement (in the video at 01:18). The loose skin needs treatment too. Among neck tightening procedures, the one I use most often is a calcium hydroxylapatite (CaHA) booster, spread evenly through the neck through a few small entry points with a long, blunt cannula. It prompts the skin to build collagen, so loose, crepey skin tends to become firmer and smoother over the following weeks. In my experience the effect often holds for six months or more, though that varies.

The creases themselves are different. Under each line the tissue has already sunk inward, so it needs to be pushed up from inside. For that I use a very soft filler placed directly into the line. When sagging is more severe, I may also add a micro-dosed toxin spread across the neck, which you can read about on our botulinum toxin treatment page and in my note on skin toxin for pores, oil and the jawline.

At VOS today, our program for static horizontal neck lines pairs about 2 cc of soft filler with one syringe of an acellular dermal matrix (ECM) booster to support skin quality, listed at ₩1,800,000 before 10% VAT. For moderate to severe laxity, a CaHA program typically starts with two syringes, from ₩2,400,000 before VAT. Prices can change, so check our current price list and expect the final plan only after an examination.

How I place filler along a neck line

Short answer: the filler goes in as many tiny, closely spaced injections along each crease, including the lines that only appear when you bend your neck.

I do not have much laxity, so in the video I treated only my horizontal lines with filler (in the video at 03:06). I applied numbing cream, wiped it off, and marked not only the lines visible at rest but also the ones that appear when I fold my neck forward. Missing those is a common reason a result looks patchy.

Then I injected along each line, stitch by stitch, very densely. It is a meticulous technique rather than a single bolus. I am honestly not someone who tolerates pain well, and I found it manageable; the many small injections felt milder than I expected. That is my experience, and sensitivity varies from person to person. Treating myself took about ten minutes because I was checking every line on camera; with a patient lying down it is usually quicker.

This is a different method from the CaHA booster. The booster goes in through a few entry points and supports the skin from beneath, while the filler lifts the specific groove of each line from below.

Recovery: what the first two weeks look like

Short answer: expect slight lumpiness and possibly bruising for about a week, with the lines looking much softer by around two weeks.

After the treatment, the skin can feel a little uneven in places for roughly a week (in the video at 05:55). Bruising is also possible at injection sites. The filler settles and spreads with time, so the surface gradually becomes smoother, and by about two weeks the lines usually look considerably softer. If you are travelling to Seoul for treatment, give yourself room in your schedule before a flight or an important event; my guide to the first 14 days after face filler on a short trip explains how I plan that.

Contact us if a lump stays firm or painful beyond the expected settling period, or if anything feels wrong.

Deep lines: small amounts, more than one session

Short answer: for deep creases I prefer modest amounts spread evenly and a top-up later, rather than trying to correct everything in one sitting.

If you inject a lot at once to erase a deep line, the bumpy, embossed look can last a long time or fail to settle (in the video at 06:28). So for deep wrinkles I place small amounts evenly and, if the correction is not enough, add more at a later session. The result looks much more natural that way.

When laxity is significant as well, I combine the filler with the CaHA booster spread inside the neck through a cannula. As collagen production picks up, sagging skin tends to become firmer and tighter. Compared with the past, neck lines are easier to improve now, though how much change you see depends on your skin.

Neck wrinkle treatment in Korea: why your plan depends on your neck

Short answer: line depth, skin thickness and the degree of sagging decide whether you need one method or a combination, so the plan is set after an examination.

In practice I look at how deep the lines are, how thin the skin is, how much it sags and what fine lines sit around them (in the video at 07:33). Some people need one method; others do better with a combination of neck tightening procedures and filler. Sometimes I add an energy-based device such as Ultherapy Prime, which is used for loose skin under the chin and on the neck. My overview of matching each wrinkle to a treatment explains how I think about these choices across the face as well.

If you are visiting our Gangnam clinic from abroad, the first step is an in-person consultation where I examine your neck before anything is decided. Before booking, send us on WhatsApp a clear daylight photo of your neck both straight and bent slightly forward, your travel dates, and anything injected in the neck in the past year. You can also see how other visitors' treatments went on our influencer reviews page.

Results, timing and recovery vary from person to person, and the right plan for you is decided at an in-person consultation.

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Results, swelling and recovery vary from person to person. This page is general information from VOS Dermatology Clinic based on Dr. Kim's video and does not replace an in-person consultation.