What is Thyroid Rejuvenation™?

The goal of thyroid surgery and parathyroid surgery is to safely fix a thyroid or parathyroid problem. As surgeons improve our abilities to do these surgeries safely, we begin to consider minimizing the impact of the surgery. And we focus on the thyroid scar. But what if we could make surgery safer and IMPROVE the appearance of the neck? That's why we started offering Thyroid Rejuvenation^TM.

To all of us, the safety of thyroid surgery is the most important thing. For 10 years, I have been studying how to do thyroid surgery safely, publishing more than 100 papers, chapters, and books and lecturing around the world about how to improve thyroid surgery. I have demonstrated, repeatedly, that patients who have surgery via a "scarless" approach have outcomes that are as good or better than patients who have traditional surgery with a scar. And it's very nice that you can keep your private health history private, without the constant need to explain your neck scar. BUT... we wanted to do more than just eliminate a scar.Thyroid Rejuvenation^TM is the way that we improve appearance instead of just maintaining the status quo.

We knew that our patients had concerns about the appearance of their neck because we listened to them. Each of our patients at the Russell Center completes a comprehensive intake form that asks a number of questions about their swallowing and voice, and also about their satisfaction with the appearance of their neck. And when we talk to them, one of our "big 4" questions that we ask every patient is about the appearance of their neck. What we find time after time is that one of the main concerns our patients have is the appearance of their neck. Whether that be an older patient that feels that she has a "turkey neck," or a younger patient who has gained or lost weight and feels that the fullness under the chin makes them less happy with their profile, almost all of our patients feel that the appearance of their neck leaves something to be desired. Thyroid Rejuvenation^TM is how we help these patients.

What is Thyroid Rejuvenation^TM? Thyroid Rejuvenation^TM is a technique where we use minimally invasive surgical techniques or other plastic surgery techniques to improve the appearance of your neck while simultaneously fixing your thyroid or parathyroid problem. One way we can do this is to combine the normal "scarless" thyroid surgery with liposuction or a lipectomy, where we remove fat from the problem areas. Another potential variant that we could do for patients with more skin laxity would be to use a submentoplasty approach, where we could make a submental incision combined with transoral instruments and excise the extra skin and fat to rejuvenate the neck significantly. Finally, for patients who are not as worried about the scar but who want the most tightening of the skin under the neck, we could perform a larger incision that extends lower and allows us to remove even more skin.

Each of these Thyroid Rejuvenation^TM variants has advantages and disadvantages, but one of them could be an option for you. So if you are interested in improving your neck as you fix your thyroid or parathyroid, let us know!