Neck Lines and Tech Neck
The neck tells the story the face has learned to hide, and at our Berkhamsted clinic it finally gets the attention it has been missing. Horizontal lines, vertical bands and crepey skin each have their own answer, from Profhilo and microneedling to the Nefertiti lift and Exion radiofrequency, and the plan begins with working out which one is yours.
At a glance
- Types Horizontal lines, vertical bands, crepiness, laxity
- Clinic Regents Park Aesthetics Berkhamsted
- 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
Stand in front of a mirror and turn your head, and you will see why the neck gives away age faster than the face. The skin there is thinner, with fewer oil glands and less structural support beneath it. It moves with every head turn and swallow. And almost nobody carries sunscreen or skincare below the jawline, so it quietly collects the ultraviolet damage the face is shielded from. Add a phone held in the lap for hours a day, creasing the same lines over and over, and you have the pattern now known as tech neck.
Three different things tend to get lumped 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 responds to a different treatment, which is why Regents Park Aesthetics assesses which you have before anything is booked. Most people over forty-five have a little of all three, and all three improve.
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. Two sessions, four weeks apart, from £320. | SkinPen Microneedling Rebuilds collagen through neck skin, improving horizontal lines and texture across a course. Suitable for most skin tones after a skin check. Face, neck and decolletage from £350. | Nefertiti Lift Anti-wrinkle injections along the jawline and vertical bands, releasing the downward pull of the platysma. Assessed at consultation by a prescriber, who explains what to expect for prominent cords. | Exion Radiofrequency For laxity, warming the deeper layer to tighten it with no downtime. Needle-free for the neck and jawline from £180, or RF microneedling where texture needs lifting too. | |
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| £320 | £350 | £350 | £180 | |
| Explore Profhilo | Explore SkinPen Microneedling | Explore the Nefertiti Lift | Explore Exion |
- £320
- £350
- £350
- £180
Compared side by side
How we assess and treat
We assess the neck upright and moving, because lying back smooths away exactly the laxity we want to see and a still neck hides the bands. We ask you to tense, which brings platysmal cords forward when they are otherwise shy. We pinch gently to judge skin thickness, which is what separates crepiness from laxity. And we look at the decolletage, which almost always shows the same story and almost never gets mentioned, because a neck treated beautifully and stopped at the collarbone leaves an obvious line.
From there the plan follows the type. Thin, crepey skin wants thickening, so Profhilo or a microneedling course. Prominent bands want the Nefertiti lift. Skin that has descended wants Exion radiofrequency to tighten the deeper layer. Deep etched horizontal lines soften considerably rather than vanishing, and the plan is set with that in view, so the change you see is the change you were promised.
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 above all, because 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 readily than facial skin, so introduce them at a lower frequency and build up.
Phone position matters more than it sounds. Holding the screen at eye level rather than in your lap cuts the hours spent with the neck flexed, which is what creases the same lines again and again. Sleeping on your back reduces both neck and decolletage creasing, for anyone who can manage it.
What home care cannot do is rebuild collagen at depth. It slows the loss and polishes the surface, and the structural change comes from treatment in clinic.
Related concerns
Meet our team of experts
Anna Stenekova and the skin therapists assess neck concerns at our Berkhamsted clinic, with Kay Greveson or Dr Grace Adamson for anything injectable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Thinner skin with less structural support, constant movement, and the simple fact that sunscreen and skincare stop at the jaw for most people. Those three compound quietly over decades, which is why the neck is often the first thing we are asked about at our Berkhamsted clinic.
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, until the fold stays.
Anti-wrinkle injections along the bands, known as the Nefertiti lift. Suitability for prominent platysmal cords is assessed at consultation by a prescriber, who explains what to expect.
Thickening rather than tightening. Profhilo and microneedling both work beautifully here, and the neck responds better than most people expect.
Deep etched horizontal lines soften considerably across a course, and the texture and tone around them improve noticeably. Your practitioner shows you what to expect for your line type at consultation.
Profhilo £320 per session, microneedling from £350 for face, neck and decolletage, the Nefertiti lift £350, and Exion from £180 for the neck and jawline at our Berkhamsted clinic.
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, and introduce retinoids more slowly there because the skin is more easily irritated.
No. Products marketed specifically for the neck are generally the same ingredients at a higher price. Take your face routine south instead.
When the problem is loose skin that has descended rather than thin skin that has gone crepey. We pinch to tell the difference, and Exion radiofrequency tightens the deeper layer with no downtime.
Anna Stenekova and our skin therapists at our Berkhamsted clinic for microneedling and Exion, and Kay Greveson or Dr Grace Adamson for Profhilo and the Nefertiti lift. Your clinician covers suitability, timing and aftercare at your consultation, and the team is a phone call away afterwards.
113 High Street, Berkhamsted HP4 2DJ, a short walk from the station and a short drive from Tring, Hemel Hempstead, Chesham and Amersham.