Background: While a good jawline is desired by both men and women there are differences in the desired shape. It is not a question of whether one is bigger or smaller but the specific shapes at the ‘corners’ is what is the difference between them. While men may desire a square chin shape women usually prefer a V-shaped or more narrow one. While wider and more angular posterior angle jaw shapes may be preferred by men vertically longer and less wide angles are more preferable for females.
In designing a custom jawline implant for a female these implant shape preferences are good guidelines to follow. In the end, of course, what matters is what the patient wants as determined by imaging of their facial pictures to determine the implant design targets. But another consideration in a jawline implant design, particularly for females, is how it is to be surgically placed. They often want to avoid any external incisions, meaning the anterior incision in the chin area would be through intraoral mucosa and not external submental skin. This consideration can have an influence on the implant’s design particularly its size at the jaw angle areas.
Case Study: This female had a combined short horizontal chin projection as well as a vertical height deficiency of they entire jawline. She did have a prior standard chin implant placed through a submental incision. Her 3D CT scan showed that the chin implant was sitting high on the bone and had 7mms of horizontal projection. She now desired a custom jawline implant replacement to be placed exclusively through an intraoral approach.
Her custom jawline implant lowered the chin and added extra horizontal projection out to 11mms. The jaw angles were lowered with minimal width added, just enough to have a flange that attaches to the bony jaw angles.
As a female the chin portion of the jawline implant had tapered shape.
Under general anesthesia the chin implant was first removed through an intraoral anterior incision.
By adding bilateral posterior intraoral incisions the jawline implant was placed in a front to back direction by threading it through the anterior intraoral incision.
Female custom jawline implants differ from males in their design (always) and sometimes by their method of insertion at the anterior chin end. (intraoral vs submental) Their design is the most important consideration as what is aesthetically pleasing in the lower face in females is dimensionally different. (more tapered chin and less jaw width in most cases) Their overall implant volume is lower due to their smaller size and is almost always less than 12ccs. (in this case the implant volume was 9.6ccs)
Key Points:
1) Female custom jawline implants have a distinctly different design consideration from men.
2) A V-shaped chin, regardless of the horizontal projection, is a specific need in most female jawline implants.
3) Vertical jaw angle lengthening is usually more important than jaw angle width in females..
Dr. Barry Eppley
World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon