Background: The shape and prominence of the lower jaw has a major influence on the perceived characteristic of a male. The more defined and stronger the jawline is the more masculine a man is perceived to be. That may or may not be actually true but the perception remains that it is. At the least men are perceived as more attractive if their jawline makes up a stronger lower third of the face.
The jaw or jawline is aesthetically composed of three parts, the chin, the paired jaw angles and the intervening bone that connects them. (technically known as the body of the jawline) While a strong chin is essential for a strong jaw, the real defining feature is actually that of the jaw angles. The jaw angles control the shape of the back of the jaw which is a defining feature seen in the front, side or three quarters of the face.
The most common deficiency of the jaw angles is a vertical one. It is a common misconception that a weak jaw angle is a width issue only. A strong and well defined jaw angle sits well below the earlobe, is vertically higher than that the chin and has a width that can be even with a vertical line dropped down from the cheeks or just slightly beyond that line. (in other words has some evident flare)
Case Study: This 38 year-old male had a prior history of chin and jaw angle implants. While his postoperative course was uneventful, the results did not meet his desired aesthetic goals. To better achieve his jawline augmentation needs, a jaw model was obtained from a 3D CT scan and new jaw angle implants were designed that fit into his square chin implant anteriorly. This allowed for considerable dropping of the jaw angles in the new implant designs.
Under general anesthesia, an intraoral approach was used to remove his existing jaw angle implants and replace them with the new designs. This required doing a careful detachment of the pterygo-masseteric sling from the inferior border of the mandible so masseteric muscle disruption did not occur. The new jaw angle implant dropped the angle down 18mms with a width of 15mms. Due to the size of the implants a single screw for fixation was placed through the intraoral incision.
His postoperative results showed a substantial change in his jawline shape. Because he had a near zero mandibular plane angle due to the vertical increase in the jaw angles, his result is called an extreme jawline augmentation.
Case Highlights:
1) Extreme jawline implant augmentation consists of making changes to the chin and jaw angles that conventional implants can not achieve.
2) Extreme jawline enhancement always requires the use of custom made implants.
3) A significant dropping of the jaw angles and the creation of an almost zero degree mandibular plane angle is the hallmark of an extreme jaw augmentation.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana