Facelifts are great procedures that can dramatically change the sagging jowl and neck area. Contrary to the perception of many, a facelift does little for most of the face. A facelift is really a neck procedure and is a facial procedure if you consider the neck and jawline the lower third of the face. By moving loose skin and deeper sagging tissues back, a sharper neck angle and straighter jawline is recreated.
In many facelift patients, a majority of whom are women, there is a tendency for a mild chin deficiency. A shorter chin shortens the length of the jawline and makes a neck look shorter and more full. In these patients, a chin implant can complement the effect of a facelift as the jawline becomes a little longer and more straight without any loose skin sagging over it. It certainly creates the appearance of a better jawline. The use of a chin implant with a facelift in fairly common in my practice with as many as one-third of facelift patients needing or getting chin augmentation at the same time.
The other benefit to chin augmentation at the time of the facelift is that it adds little time and no extra incisions. A full facelift always uses a small incision under the chin to suction fat and tighten the platysmal muscles. Through this same incision, it is very easy and quick to go ‘north’ to the front part of the chin bone to place the implant. A limited facelift (e.g., Lifestyle Lift) would require an ‘extra’ incision in this area that would not normally be used.
Assessing a patient prior to a facelift with computer imaging will clearly demonstrate whether a chin implant would be a complement to a facelift procedure.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana