Double Chin
Fullness under the chin has three causes.
Under the chin, the line between jaw and neck softens. What you are looking at might be a small fat pad, skin that has lost its firmness, or chewing muscles that have thickened over years of clenching. Each one answers to a different treatment.
Double Chin
Fullness under the chin has three causes.
Under the chin, the line between jaw and neck softens. What you are looking at might be a small fat pad, skin that has lost its firmness, or chewing muscles that have thickened over years of clenching. Each one answers to a different treatment.
CONCERN AND CAUSES
What Creates a Double Chin
Weight explains some of it and not all of it. Fat can sit under the chin on a slim frame. Skin softens as collagen drops, and the chewing muscles thicken from years of clenching. Which of those you have is sorted out in person.
01
Submental Fat
A discrete pocket of fat sits between the chin muscles and the skin, and its size is largely set by genetics and by past weight changes. People who are slim everywhere else still carry it, because targeted exercise does not reduce fat in one spot.
02
Skin Laxity
Collagen and elastin, the proteins that keep skin firm and springy, decline with age, and the skin under the jaw begins to drape. After weight loss there can be almost no fat left under the chin while loose skin still blurs the jawline.
03
Masseter Fullness
The masseters are the chewing muscles at the angle of the jaw, and they thicken with years of clenching or grinding, or simply with your own anatomy. A wider lower face reads as heaviness in photos taken from below.
04
Combined Layers
A double chin often involves more than one layer. A fat pocket can sit over softening skin, or heavy masseters widen the jaw while the platysmal bands down the front of the neck pull their own vertical cords.
Treatment Options
Each Treatment Works on a Different Layer
Catherine assesses the area in order, fat first, then skin, then muscle, until it is clear which layer is making the shape you see. Nearly 20 years of injecting is what that sorting rests on, in Bronxville and in Bridgehampton.
Kybella
The active ingredient is deoxycholic acid, a molecule the body already uses to break down dietary fat. Injected in a grid across the fat pad, it disrupts the fat cell membranes, and those cells are cleared through normal metabolism.
Jawline Contouring
Hyaluronic acid filler from the Restylane and RHA families, placed at the chin, along the jawline, and at the jaw angle to rebuild a clear border.
Masseter Botox
Botox into the masseter at each jaw angle, easing the activity that built the bulk. The start is conservative, with more added at a follow-up if the width has not softened enough.
Holding Your Jawline Result Between Appointments
Fat cells cleared by Kybella do not come back. Muscle softening is temporary, and skin firmness keeps changing as collagen declines with age, so both need upkeep. Daily care at home supports the contour, and these are the steps that matter most.
Cleanse Gently
Support Collagen
Hydrate the Barrier
After Kybella
Protect Daily
Skincare That Supports the Result
AlphaRet by SkinBetter
A retinoid and alpha hydroxy acid cream used at night on the face, jaw, and neck. It supports collagen and smooths texture, and it is available for pick-up.
The Beauty Bank
What Membership Is For
Members pay less per unit.
Neuromodulators are $15.50 per unit. Catherine goes through the options at a complimentary consultation. There is no deposit. Members pay less per unit; the figures are on the Beauty Bank page.
One fee each month, with no deposit
Use it at either office, Bronxville or Bridgehampton
Your complimentary consultation is with Catherine Curtin, MSN, FNP-C
A full-face assessment comes before any single treatment.
Complimentary consultation. No deposit. A card holds the time.
FAQ
Common Questions About
Double Chin Treatment
Yes, when the treatment matches the cause. A submental fat pad answers to Kybella. A jaw border that has gone soft with little fat behind it answers to filler. Which one is recommended depends on what is found under your chin, and sometimes the answer is both in sequence.
The amount of fat sitting there decides most of it, along with how quickly your body clears the first round. Some patients are content after two sessions. Others want a stronger change and carry on. The result is reviewed with you at a follow-up visit, and there is no obligation to book another.
Swelling is part of how Kybella works, and it is most obvious in the first days after a session. It can take a couple of weeks to fade completely. Appointments are spaced far enough apart that the swelling has gone down by the next one.
The fat cells Kybella destroys are cleared by the body and do not return. Later weight gain can still change the area, because the fat cells that remain can enlarge. Muscle narrowing with Botox and skin firming both need repeating to hold.
Then dissolving fat will not give you what you want. Vivace RF microneedling heats the deeper layers of skin to build collagen, and it is used under the jaw when laxity is the main issue. If a real fat pad is sitting there too, the fat is treated first and the skin firmed afterward.
A fat-dissolving injection has little to act on when the fullness is mostly lax skin. Treatment then centers on collagen stimulation and daily skincare, with a small amount of jawline filler where structure at the chin gives the lower face a clearer edge.
Yes, and a common sequence puts Kybella first and the jawline structure after. Once the swelling from the fat reduction has gone, how much filler the jaw border needs becomes clear, and it is often less than it looked at the start. Masseter Botox can run alongside either, since it works on a different layer.
Pinching the area tells you a little about whether it feels firm or loose, though separating fat from laxity reliably takes hands and eyes in person. At your consultation Catherine looks from several angles and goes through what she sees.
Cost depends on which treatment does the work and how many sessions are needed. Jawline filler is $750 to $900 per syringe. Neuromodulators are $15.50 per unit, and $13.95 per unit for Beauty Bank members, where membership is $150 a month. The consultation is complimentary, with no deposit, and a range is given for your own plan.
Reducing submental fullness refines the line from chin to neck and does not change the rest of the face. The work is conservative, and your profile is checked between sessions so the result reads as a cleaner jawline and still looks like you.