Creases across the front of the neck
Horizontal neck lines
From repeated flexion and posture, deepened by phone use and side sleeping. Skin boosters and microneedling improve them, and deeper etched lines soften steadily across a longer course.
Skin concerns · London
Neck Lines and Tech Neck
You notice it on a video call, or glancing down at your phone: fine lines across the neck that your face does not have. Sunscreen and skincare so often stop at the jaw, and the neck responds beautifully once it gets the same attention.
At a glance
- Types Horizontal lines, vertical bands, crepiness, laxity
- Treated at Wimpole Street, London
- Course 2 to 6 sessions by treatment
- Essential SPF below the jaw
- First step Assessment of line type
What it is and why it happens
The neck shows the years a little sooner than the face, for three reasons that build on each other.
The skin is thinner there, with fewer oil glands and less structural support. It moves constantly with every head turn and swallow. And almost nobody applies sunscreen or skincare below the jawline, so it accumulates ultraviolet damage that the face is protected from.
Add phone use, which holds the neck flexed for hours a day and creases the same lines repeatedly, and you have the pattern people now call tech neck.
Three different things get grouped together. Horizontal lines are creases across the front, partly from movement and partly from posture. Vertical bands are the platysma muscle becoming prominent as it loses tone. Crepiness is thin skin that has lost collagen.
Each has its own treatment. Regents Park Aesthetics assesses which you have at the Wimpole Street clinic, and most people over forty-five have some of all three.
Know your type
Which type is yours?
Cords appearing when you tense
Vertical bands
The platysma muscle losing tone and becoming prominent. Anti-wrinkle injections along the bands soften them, which is a Nefertiti lift and is genuinely effective for this specific pattern.
Fine crinkling, thin texture
Crepey neck skin
Thinning and collagen loss, usually with sun damage. Needs thickening rather than tightening. Profhilo and microneedling both work here and the neck responds better than most people expect.
Loose skin, softening jaw edge
Neck laxity
Where the skin has genuinely descended. Ultraformer HIFU reaches the deeper layer; Morpheus8 tightens and improves texture together.
How we assess and treat
We assess the neck upright and moving, because lying back removes exactly the laxity being assessed and a still neck hides the bands.
We ask you to tense, which makes platysmal bands obvious when they are otherwise not. We pinch to judge skin thickness, which separates crepiness from laxity.
We also look at the decolletage, which almost always shows the same damage and almost never gets mentioned. Treating the neck and stopping at the collarbone leaves an obvious line.
Neck skin is naturally thin, so the change builds gradually and looks entirely natural: smoother, firmer skin, and deep horizontal lines that soften considerably. Your clinician talks you through exactly what to expect for your neck before the first session.
Your options
Which treatment for your type of neck concern?
As a guide, this is how we typically match each type to a treatment. Your own plan is always confirmed at consultation, and where a specialist doctor would serve you best, your clinician points you to the right one.
Type
Recommended treatment
Why
Treatments that address it
| Profhilo Hydrates and thickens thin crepey neck skin without adding volume. The neck is one of the areas Profhilo does most for, and it responds better than patients expect. Two sessions fo | SkinPen Microneedling Rebuilds collagen through neck skin, improving horizontal lines and texture across a course. Safe on all skin tones. Face, neck and decolletage from £350. | Nefertiti Lift Anti-wrinkle injections along the jawline and vertical bands, releasing the downward pull of the platysma. The specific answer for prominent cords, and it sharpens the jaw edge as | Ultraformer III HIFU For genuine laxity, reaching the deeper layer with no downtime. Lower face, jawline and neck from £980. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| £320 | £350 | £350 | £980 | |
| Helps | Helps | No | Somewhat | |
| No | No | Yes | Somewhat | |
| Yes | Yes | No | Somewhat | |
| No | No | No | Yes | |
| 2 | 4 to 6 | 1, repeated | 1, annually | |
| Explore Profhilo | Explore SkinPen Microneedling | Explore anti-wrinkle injections | Explore Ultraformer III HIFU |
Profhilo
Hydrates and thickens thin crepey neck skin without adding volume. The neck is one of the areas Profhilo does most for, and it responds better than patients expect. Two sessions fo
- £320
- Helps
- No
- Yes
- No
- 2
SkinPen Microneedling
Rebuilds collagen through neck skin, improving horizontal lines and texture across a course. Safe on all skin tones. Face, neck and decolletage from £350.
- £350
- Helps
- No
- Yes
- No
- 4 to 6
Nefertiti Lift
Anti-wrinkle injections along the jawline and vertical bands, releasing the downward pull of the platysma. The specific answer for prominent cords, and it sharpens the jaw edge as
- £350
- No
- Yes
- No
- No
- 1, repeated
Ultraformer III HIFU
For genuine laxity, reaching the deeper layer with no downtime. Lower face, jawline and neck from £980.
- £980
- Somewhat
- Somewhat
- Somewhat
- Yes
- 1, annually
Before and after
Neck lines
Neck, after SkinPen
Horizontal neck creasing after a course of microneedling. Clinical image supplied by Crown Aesthetics. Individual results may vary.
Jawline and neck
Side view, after Morpheus8
Radiofrequency microneedling through the lower face and neck. Clinical image supplied by InMode. Individual results may vary.
Can you treat it at home?
Extend whatever you use on your face down the neck and onto the chest. That single change does more than any product bought specifically for the neck, and almost nobody does it consistently.
Sunscreen especially. Ultraviolet damage below the jaw is the largest driver of neck ageing and the most avoidable.
Retinoids work on the neck and irritate it more easily than facial skin, so use them at a lower frequency and build up.
Phone position genuinely matters. Holding a phone at eye level rather than in your lap reduces the hours per day spent with the neck flexed, which is what creases the same lines repeatedly.
Sleeping on your back reduces both neck and decolletage creasing, and almost nobody manages it.
Home care slows the loss and keeps the surface smooth. The deeper collagen rebuild comes from a treatment in clinic, which is where Wimpole Street, a short walk from Oxford Circus, takes over.
Questions, answered
Frequently Asked Questions
Thinner skin with less structural support, constant movement, and almost nobody applies sunscreen or skincare below the jawline. Those three compound over decades.
Horizontal creasing from holding the neck flexed to look at a phone for hours a day. The mechanism is the same as any expression line: repeated folding in the same place.
Anti-wrinkle injections along the bands, which is a Nefertiti lift. It is the specific answer for prominent platysmal cords and it sharpens the jaw edge as a secondary effect.
Thickening rather than tightening. Profhilo and microneedling both work well and the neck responds better than most people expect.
Deep etched horizontal lines soften considerably, and finer lines and crepiness respond especially well. The change looks natural, and your clinician shows you what to expect before treating.
Profhilo £320 per session, microneedling from £350 for face neck and decolletage, Nefertiti lift £350, HIFU from £980 for lower face and neck.
Almost always. The decolletage shows the same damage and treating the neck alone leaves a visible line at the collarbone.
Yes, and you should. Extend everything down the neck and chest. Introduce retinoids more slowly there because the skin irritates more easily.
No. Products marketed specifically for the neck are generally the same ingredients at a higher price.
When the skin has loosened and descended, rather than thinned into crepiness. A quick pinch test at the assessment tells the difference.
Visit our Wimpole Street clinic
Let’s talk about your skin.
A consultation is the first step towards a plan that feels right for you.
Address19 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8GE
Telephone020 7580 4813