The chin is the most dominant feature of the lower face. It has significant influence on the perception of facial balance and how the neck looks as well. While the chin may only be thought of as being too small or too big, there are other dimensions to the chin that also play a role in how it looks. Its horizontal position relative to the rest of the face can be an overly simplistic view of its aesthetics. The width of the chin is also important. Men often want a wider chin, women usually desire a chin that is more narrow.
When it comes to building out a chin, whether it be for horizontal length or width, the use of an implant is a simple and very effective method. Reducing chins, however, require manipulation of the bone…specifically removing parts of the chin to change its shape. Subtraction is a slightly more complex maneuver than addition for all facial areas.
Broad chins can be reduced through a technique known as an oblique chin ostectomy. This is a method where bone from the side of the chin along its undersurface is removed. This can be done by burring it down, or more effectively, by sawing away the widest part of the chin and making it blend into the jawline. It can be done from either inside the mouth or from a small incision under the chin. As the bone is removed in a front to back direction, how much bone to remove and how it affects the narrowing of the chin can be seen quite easily. This procedure can be done alone or with any other chin operation, including implants. For a wide and short chin, for example, a central chin implant style can be placed with lateral narrowing to make for a slender narrower chin. This operation does cause some significant swelling, as bone manipulations will do, and some temporary numbness of the chin and lower lip as well.
Narrowing of the chin adds another method of cosmetic jaw enhancement including chin implants, chin, osteotomies, mandibular angle implants, and mandibular angle reduction. Chin narrowing can be done alone or in combination of any other chin/jaw method to create an overall lower jaw shape change. These changes are particularly visible through computer prediction imaging and, in my Indianapolis plastic surgery practice, I make sure that all such patients go through such imaging before surgery.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana