Platysmaplasty Cost in Newcastle NSW
A platysmaplasty (surgery to the platysma muscle of the neck) tightens the thin sheet of muscle that runs under the skin of the front of the neck. With age, and in some people after significant weight loss, the two edges of the platysma separate in the midline and the muscle loosens. That is a normal change. Through a small incision under the chin, I stitch the two edges together in the midline and release the muscle lower down so the front of the neck sits flatter. A platysmaplasty on its own does not remove fat from beneath the muscle and does not remove neck skin.
This page prices a platysmaplasty performed on its own. The same muscle work is often done as part of a larger operation, and those figures sit elsewhere: as the second figure on each facelift (rhytidectomy) cost page, and within the deep neck lift (cervicoplasty) cost page, which is the operation that also works beneath the platysma. Which of these is right for you is decided at consultation, and I only combine procedures where each is genuinely indicated.
A standalone platysmaplasty is a cosmetic procedure. There is no Medicare item number, no private health fund contribution, and 10% GST applies to every fee.
My surgical fee for a platysmaplasty is $5,489 including GST. That is my fee only. The anaesthetist and Maitland Private Hospital bill separately and set their own charges. With those included, the total cost comes to approximately $12,000 including GST. This total applies to the least complex case: normal BMI, no other procedure, no work beneath the platysma, and a day stay at Maitland Private Hospital. You receive an individual written quote after your consultation, and it sets out my fee and the total separately.
I am Dr Bernard Beldholm, a Specialist Surgeon and Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, with more than 15 years of cosmetic face and neck surgery experience. I perform this operation at Maitland Private Hospital in the Hunter Valley and see patients from Newcastle, Maitland, Lake Macquarie and across regional NSW.
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What my fee includes
My surgical fee covers the operation and the care around it. It includes:
A second consultation before surgery at no cost
Which is required before any date is booked. I review your blood results at this visit, and it can be done remotely if you live some distance from Maitland.
All post-operative follow-up
I see you closely over the first 2 weeks, then at 4 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months.
A neck support band
Supplied after surgery, to be worn as directed while the tissues settle.
LED light therapy
Sessions in my rooms during recovery.
Revision surgery
Within 12 months where I judge it to be needed, with my fee waived. Hospital and anaesthetist charges for any revision are billed separately by them.
There are no additional consultation fees after your first appointment, and no charge for phone or email contact with my rooms during your recovery.
What makes up your total cost
The approximate total on this page combines four separate charges. My rooms organise the anaesthetist and hospital quotes for you so that you have the full picture before you decide.
My surgical fee
Set by me for your operation, and stated on this page.
The anaesthetist’s fee
A platysmaplasty is performed under general anaesthesia. The anaesthetist bills separately, at their own rate, based on the time in theatre. In most cases the anaesthetic consultation is by phone before the day of surgery.
Maitland Private Hospital charges
Theatre time, charged by the hour at the hospital’s cosmetic rate, plus the day stay. An overnight stay is available if you would prefer it or if I recommend it, and the hospital charges for that separately.
Disposables
Sutures, dressings and the single-use items used in theatre, charged by the hospital.
What changes the quote is the extent of the operation. Where assessment shows that fat beneath the platysma needs to be removed as well, the operation becomes a deep neck lift (cervicoplasty), which takes longer and has its own cost page. Where the neck skin itself is loose enough that tightening the muscle would not be sufficient, a neck lift (cervicoplasty) or, in selected patients after significant weight loss, direct excision of neck skin may be discussed instead. Where fat above the platysma is the main finding, VASER (ultrasound-assisted liposuction) of the neck may be more appropriate, and that has its own cost page. Where a platysmaplasty is done with a facelift (rhytidectomy), the combined figure is on that facelift (rhytidectomy) cost page. None of these is added by default. Each depends on what the assessment shows.
Medicare and health funds
A platysmaplasty performed on its own is cosmetic surgery. There is no Medicare item number for it, so no Medicare rebate applies and private health funds do not contribute to the surgeon, anaesthetist or hospital charges. Because no item number applies, 10% GST is added to all three, and Maitland Private Hospital charges its cosmetic rate for theatre time, which is higher than the rate for Medicare-eligible surgery.
This position does not change with the extent of the operation. The same applies to a deep neck lift (cervicoplasty) and to a platysmaplasty performed with a facelift (rhytidectomy). The one exception in the neck is direct excision of neck skin after significant weight loss, where an item number may apply in some circumstances, and that is covered on its own cost page.
If you would like more detail on how the surgeon, anaesthetist and hospital charges are assembled across the neck procedures, I cover that in my article on neck surgery costs in Australia.
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Your next step
A GP referral is required before your first consultation. At that consultation, which runs for about an hour, I examine the neck, take standardised photographs and work out whether the platysma is the main finding or whether fat beneath the muscle or loose skin is also involved. That assessment determines which operation, if any, is appropriate, and the written quote follows from it.
The consultation is held at my rooms in Maitland. If you live some distance away, the first consultation can be done by telehealth, with an in-person examination before any surgery is booked.