Background: Strong jawlines are historically associated with men as a desired masculine facial feature. While this is certainly still true today, women now desire stronger jawlines as well. But a strong jawline does not mean exactly the same thing for men and women. They are subtle gender differences in what makes up a good looking jawline.
Men often desire strong chin and jaw angles that are angulated with greater width and prominence. This may mean more of a square shape to the chin and jaw angles that have more lateral flare or width and more of a square shape to them. Conversely women usually want a straight jawline with a more narrow chin and defined but vertically elongated jaw angles with minimal lateral flare.
Vertical lengthening of the jaw angles has historically been impossible because there was simply not an implant available that could create that effect. Vertical jaw angle lengthening is a different type of change that what traditional jaw angles create which is only width. A width only or lateral jaw angle implant for women is almost never a good choice as they have often have a high and obtuse jaw angle shapes. (steep mandibular plane) What they desire is more of a defined jaw angle shape but with little additional width.
Case Study: This 33 year-old female wanted to have a ‘strong’ jaw angle shape to her jawline. She had a thin face with good chin projection that was adequately narrow. What she lacked was a more defined jaw angle which required vertical lengthening and the creation of a more 90 degree angle shape.
Under general anesthesia, vertical lengthening jaw angle implants were placed through posterior intraoral incisions. The implants added 7mms of vertical length to the back of the jaw angle, 3mms width and a more defined jaw angle shape. The implants were secured into placed with one small microscrew on each side.
Her six months after surgery results showed a marked improvement to her jaw angle shape and definition. From the front view the implants added a small amount of lower facial width and fullness.
Vertical lengthening jaw angle implants add new possibilities for aesthetic jawline enhancement. Unlike traditional jaw angle implants that only add width, vertical lengthening of the jaw angle enables a change that many jawline enhancement patients really need to reach their aesthetic goals. This is certainly true for the vast majority of women that seek augmentative jawline enhancement.
Interestingly, and as a side note, the patient eventually returned to have even stronger jaw angle implants placed.
Highlights:
1) Female jaw angle implants are designed to create a more defined posterior jaw angle prominence.
2) Vertical jaw angle lengthening is usually what most females desire for a better jawline.
3) A vertical lengthening jaw angle implant requires adequate muscle release and screw fixation for a stable postoperative result.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana