The custom jawline implant is the most powerful changer of the shape of the lower third of the face. Besides augmenting the chin and jaw angle areas its connected design expands the entire inferolateral border of the jawline in a wraparound fashion. That creates a surprising but beneficial aesthetic effect of creating a more clear separation of the face from the neck by the establishment of a distinct line of the jaw around the entire lower face.
Another unexpected but very desired effect is the improvement that a custom jawline implant makes in the neck. In young patients there is always some lessening of any submental fullness with the expansion of the jawline and increased chin projection.
But in the older patient the effects of the jawline implant on the neck become more profound. The laxity in the neck improves with expansion of the jawline. It has a lifting effect as the skin is recruited from below to cover the newly expanded jawline. The bigger the implant the more profound the neck lifting effect becomes.
In the younger patient with some submental or neck fullness it is often advised to combine the custom jawline implant with liposuction or even a submentoplasty to optimize the lower facial jawline effect. But in the older patient who may need or who was thinking about a lower facelift it is usually best to do the jawline implant first and the facelift later. This order makes the most sense as the swelling from the jawline implant works against the tightening effect of the facelift. It is also very likely that the improvement in the neck from the implant may result in a change in the type of facelift needed. (less invasive)
Dr. Barry Eppley
World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon