Background: Chin implants in females is a common lower facial reshaping procedure. While they add desired amounts of horizontal projection and improve the facial profile, the extended wing designs of today’s chin implant designs can have adverse effects on they look in the front view. While the extensions on the implants are designed to create a natural transition into the jawline bone without a visible stepoff, they add chin width to do so. While this is rarely an issue in men, it can be more frequent aesthetic problem in women.
Women seeking an improved jawline have a different aesthetic goal than men. They do not necessarily seek an angular jawline with visible corners. (some women may bit not the majority) Rather they usually desire a V-shape to their jawline with a smooth linear line from front to back. As part of that aesthetic goal the chin must be narrow and may even have a more pointy chin or smaller V-shape appearance. This is in contradiction to the look that many chin implant styles give to the augmented chin.
Case Study: This 35 year-old female had a prior history of having chin augmentation done using a Medpor chin implant of 6mm projection placed through an intraoral approach. She never liked the result as it gave her a wide and boxy chin. This did not fit her small petite face well. While it provided adequate horizontal projection, it made her chin too wide and too vertically long. She also developed some lower lip sag and excess tooth show.
Under general anesthesia her indwelling Medpor chin implant was removed intraorally. To do so it had to be sectioned into multiple pieces and required the removal of 6 titanium screws. It was replaced by a sliding genioplasty that was brought forward 6mm and vertically shortened 3mms. A mentalis muscle resuspension and vestibuloplasty were performed to help with her lower lip sag. Concurrently, vertical lengthening jaw angle implants were placed through posterior vestibular intraoral incisions. The implants added 7mm of vertical length and 3mms of width.
Any form of chin or jawline augmentation must take into consideration the differences be tween male and female jawline shapes as well as the patient’s aesthetic goals. Even a ‘simple’ chin augmentation must take this into consideration as the operation may be a technical success but an aesthetic failure. (as this case illustrates) The entire jawline from front to back must also be considered in an effort to create an improved jawline that fits the patient’s face.
Highlights:
1) Chin implants in females create horizontal projection but often at the expense of too much chin width.
2) A sliding genioplasty can replace a chin implant by providing horizontal projection but with a more narrow chin width.
3) Jaw angle implants can create vertical lengthening with a sliding genioplasty to give a more defined jawline in females.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana