Double Chin Liposuction in Puebla

What is submental liposuction?

Submental liposuction —double chin liposuction— removes the excess fat accumulated under the chin and along the neck using a fine cannula, through an incision of a few millimetres hidden in the natural crease beneath the chin.

The goal is not merely to “remove the double chin”: it is to redefine the cervicomental angle, the line separating face from neck. That angle carries enormous weight in how a person’s age and weight are perceived, both frontally and in profile — and in the era of video calls and selfies it has become one of the fastest-growing reasons for consultation.

The extracted fat cells do not form again: the result in the treated area is definitive, provided body weight remains stable.

Fat, loose skin or muscle: not the same problem

Not every double chin is treated the same way, and this diagnosis is what determines whether liposuction will work for you:

• Double chin caused by fat with good skin quality: the ideal indication. Often seen in young or middle-aged patients, even slim ones — submental fat has a strong genetic component.
• Double chin caused by loose skin: if skin excess predominates, removing only the fat can worsen the sagging. The correct answer there is a face and neck lift, with or without liposuction.
• Platysmal bands: when the platysma muscle is separated or lax, muscle correction (platysmaplasty) is assessed, not just the fat.
• Subplatysmal fat: part of the fat may sit beneath the muscle, out of the cannula’s reach; it is identified on examination and changes the surgical plan.

How is it performed?

It is an outpatient procedure, performed under local anaesthesia with sedation —or purely local in selected cases— lasting 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Through a 3-to-4-millimetre incision hidden in the submental crease (and, if needed, one behind each earlobe), an anaesthetic solution is infiltrated and the fat is removed with a fine cannula, sculpting the new neck angle evenly to avoid irregularities.

A compression chin strap is fitted at the end, helping the skin adapt to the new contour. The patient goes home the same day.

Who is a good candidate?

The ideal candidate has localised fat under the chin, skin with good elasticity —able to retract over the new contour—, a relatively stable weight and realistic expectations. Age matters less than skin quality.

The consultation examines exactly that: how much fat there is, where it sits (superficial or subplatysmal), the state of skin and muscle, and whether liposuction alone is enough or should be combined with another procedure — for instance chin surgery when a recessed chin accentuates the double chin. All surgery carries risk and requires a prior medical assessment. Results may vary according to each patient, their anatomy and their individual healing process.

Recommended post-surgical treatments

To reduce swelling and speed recovery, Dr. Arístides may indicate manual lymphatic drainage and hyperbaric chamber sessions, case by case. See the full guide: Post-surgical recovery and care.

Credentials

Dr. Arístides Arellano is a plastic surgeon holding a specialty licence: he practises under a Mexican medical licence (D.G.P. 1125959) and a specialty licence in Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery (0002008), both issued by the Directorate General of Professions (DGP), which reissued his certificate of professional standing in 2025. His career began before Mexico’s present-day specialty-board system existed: he belongs to the founding generation of plastic surgery in Puebla, the second generation of a surgical tradition started in 1971 by Dr. Francisco Arellano Ocampo. Trust is verified, not promised: both licences are public and anyone can look them up in the DGP’s National Registry of Professionals.

Before and after

The cases below are real patients of Dr. Arístides Arellano, published with their written informed consent. Out of respect for each person’s privacy, only expressly authorised cases are published; at your in-person consultation Dr. Arístides can show you further cases with a starting point similar to yours. Results may vary from patient to patient.

How to get rid of a double chin: every option, and which one applies

It is the most searched question on this whole subject and it is almost never answered fully, because the honest answer starts with "it depends why you have it". Before choosing a treatment you need to know what that double chin is made of, and a five-minute examination shows it:

• If it is fat — submental liposuction removes it, in one operation, permanently. It is the most common case and the one that responds best.
• If it is loose skin — aspirating fat leaves the skin looser still. What is needed is to tighten it: a neck and face lift, or energy on the skin if laxity is mild.
• If they are platysmal bands — those two vertical cords in the neck are muscle. No liposuction removes them; they are corrected by opening and suturing the muscle, within a neck lift.
• If the chin is short or recessed — the profile looks like a double chin even with little fat, because projection is missing. The answer is a chin implant; liposuction alone disappoints.
• If it is generalized excess weight — losing weight changes more than any procedure, and it is better done before, not after.
• Many double chins are a mix of two or three of these. That is why the same complaint leads to different operations in different people, and why it cannot be decided over WhatsApp or from a photo.

Exercises and chin straps: what to actually expect

Both are searched constantly and deserve a straight answer. Facial exercises do not remove submental fat. Spot reduction by exercise does not exist: muscle can be toned, but the fat pad sitting in front of it is not mobilized by making faces. What does help, considerably, is losing body weight — which is a different thing.

Chin straps do not remove fat either. They compress and displace tissue while worn, and the effect disappears when taken off. They do have a legitimate role: after a submental liposuction, as a compression garment prescribed by the surgeon during recovery, helping the skin redrape.

We say this knowing it does not sell. But someone who has spent eight months doing neck exercises deserves to know why they are not working, rather than buying another product.

Fat-dissolving injections: when they make sense

Injectables that dissolve fat — deoxycholic acid and the blends sold as "lipoenzymes" — are a genuine alternative in one specific case: a small double chin, with good skin quality, in a patient who does not want surgery. They require several sessions, produce marked swelling for days, and give a more modest and less predictable result than surgery.

Where they do not make sense is a medium or large double chin: they end up costing as much or more than the operation, with more sessions and less result. And if the problem is skin or muscle, they do nothing at all — exactly like liposuction.

Both routes exist in this practice, so the recommendation can follow what is appropriate rather than what is available.

Submental liposuction and buccal fat removal: what each one corrects

They are requested together constantly and confused even more. Different fat, different compartments, different approaches:

• Submental liposuction — the fat under the chin and in the neck. Entered through a tiny incision beneath the chin, defining the angle between neck and jaw.
• Buccal fat removal — the buccal pad, inside the cheek. Entered from inside the mouth, slimming the midface, not the jaw border.
• Together makes sense when both genuinely apply, done in one operation with one anaesthetic and one recovery. But needing one does not imply needing the other, and in a slim face buccal fat removal may be contraindicated when submental liposuction is not.

Badly done submental liposuction: what can go wrong

The classic error is over-aspirating. Removing all the fat leaves irregularities, a stiff appearance and, frequently, skin looser than before, because the filling that supported it is gone. A thin layer of fat must always remain: it is what gives a smooth surface.

The second error is one of indication rather than technique: operating on a double chin that was really skin or muscle. The surgery is done well, the fat comes out, and the patient still sees the same thing in the mirror. That is why this page insists on identifying the cause before operating.

Other real risks, uncommon but explained at assessment: asymmetry, seroma, temporary altered sensation and, exceptionally, injury to the marginal mandibular branch of the facial nerve, which runs near the operative field.

What submental liposuction does NOT do

It removes submental fat. That is all it does, and saying so prevents most disappointments:

• It does not tighten skin. It relies on the skin retracting by itself, which happens well in young elastic skin and poorly in damaged or older skin.
• It does not correct neck bands, which are muscle.
• It does not lengthen or project the chin.
• It is not a weight-loss method and does not change the number on the scale.
• It does not prevent recurrence after significant weight gain: removed cells do not return, but remaining ones can enlarge.

Approximate price in Puebla

Submental liposuction has a reference cost of $35,000 MXN. Approximate price — the definitive cost is set at your private consultation with Dr. Arístides Arellano. The final cost depends on the extent of the area treated and on whether it is combined with another procedure in the same surgical session. How much does liposuction cost in Mexico? — the body-contouring price table.

Documented training in liposuction and facial contour

The submental area is the least forgiving region for liposuction: neck skin does not forgive over-resection. Dr. Arístides Arellano is accredited before the DGP as a specialist, with a liposuction record documented from 1988 onward:

• Liposuction course (56 h) — Clínica Libertador · Buenos Aires
• Regular Member — Lipoplasty Society of North America — 1 de julio de 1994
• Course: facial aesthetics — XXVI Congresso Brasileiro de Cirurgia Plástica · Blumenau, 1989
• Facial surgery course — Sociedade Brasileira de Cirurgia Plástica · Río de Janeiro

Trust is verified, not promised. All 210 scanned documents —degree, licences, diplomas, publications and certificates, from 1977 to 2025— are open in Dr. Arístides Arellano’s credential archive, alongside an explanation of the difference between a specialty licence and a board certification.

Recovery · step by step

• Days 1–3Swelling and a feeling of tightness under the chin; compression strap worn continuously. Mild discomfort, controlled with simple analgesics.
• Days 4–7Discreet bruising may appear on the neck. Most patients return to work between days 3 and 5.
• Weeks 1–2Chin strap at night only, as indicated. Visible swelling subsides.
• Weeks 3–4Exercise resumed gradually. The contour is already clearly visible.
• Months 3–6Definitive result: the skin finishes adapting and the cervicomental angle is defined.

Frequently asked questions

Before and after

How do you actually get rid of a double chin? When it is localised fat under the chin, liposuction of that area removes it in under an hour under local anaesthetic. Neck exercises, creams and gadgets do not shift it: there is no muscle to train there, there is a fat deposit that is either suctioned or dissolved. What does decide the result is skin elasticity. All surgery carries risks and requires a prior medical assessment; results vary from person to person.

Why do I have a double chin if I am slim? Because submental fat is one of the deposits ruled by genetics rather than the scale: some people lose ten kilos and the double chin stays. A short chin also contributes — it makes a lack of projection look like a double chin — as does head posture. That is why the assessment looks at the chin, not only at the fat. All surgery carries risks and requires a prior medical assessment; results vary from person to person.

Photographs of real patients, published with their written informed consent. Results may vary from person to person; these images are not a promise of outcome.

Every figure published on this site is approximate and is not a quote. Any procedure or treatment first requires a private assessment consultation with Dr. Arístides Arellano —$800 MXN, charged separately— and it is at that consultation that the definitive cost of your case is determined.

Educational content; it does not replace a medical consultation. Results may vary from person to person.