Skincare doesn’t stop at your neck – and that includes SPF

In Australia, with our particularly punishing UV assault, many women have a distinctive sun-damaged and pigmented décolletage (the Aussie V). This delicate area (from chin to chest) is one of the first places on our bodies to develop signs of ageing, which will often appear 20 years after the initial damage has been done.

“The neck area has thin, sensitive skin compared to other parts of the body,” says dermatologist Dr Joshua Zeichner. “Combine that with gravity and the constant craning over smartphones, and it’s an area uniquely at risk for fine lines and sagging.”

The damage signs appear as wrinkles, sagging skin, freckles, uneven pigmentation and dark spots as well as broken capillaries, and can also result in precancerous lesions or skin cancer. It’s best to prevent the damage in the first place by wearing SPF50+ on your face and extending it down to your breasts – as you should do with all your skin care.

Retinol can help address a wrinkling and sagging décolletage, and SkinCeuticals Tripeptide-R ($230) is our go-to. It’s a nightly, fragrance-free retinol cream created solely for the delicate skin around your neck and décolletage. Top this with The Perricone MD Cold Plasma+ Neck & Chest ($216); its niacinamide-rich formula locks in the retinol and moisturises your neck at night. Extending vitamin C cream all over your face and décolletage in the morning will help with pigmentation as it decreases the activity of melanosomes. But no matter what actives you are applying, a daily must is an SPF50+. Try Airyday Clear as Day SPF50+ Dreamscreen ($49).

To dial it up a notch, turn your attention to laser-based treatments. Devices like IPL (intense pulsed light) can help improve skin texture, redness, broken capillaries and pigmentation.

A notch higher is the fractioned non-ablative laser, which leaves tiny wounds deep in the dermis to create new collagen and tightens the skin. The top-notch solution is the ablative laser, which is more aggressive and deeper again as it vaporises the top layer of the skin. This obviously requires more downtime.

One of the latest procedures to target troublesome neck issues is a surgical procedure called MyEllevate. Plastic surgeon Dr Steven Liew says, “MyEllevate is a minimally invasive surgical technique that allows us to tackle ageing, sagging necks without open surgery and with minimal downtime.” This procedure uses a suture support system and takes about 90 minutes with four to five days downtime, and it lasts for years.