Can My Facial Asymmetry Be Corrected?

Q: Dr. Eppley, My concern is my facial asymmetry. My one side of my face did not develop normally, my left eye sets lower than the right.  Also my left cheek bone is under developed.  I want to know if it can be corrected. I have attached some pictures so you can see what I mean by one side of my face being different than the other.

A: Thank you for sending your pictures. You have a left-sided form of facial asymmetry due to some underdevelopment of various facial structures. This is probably a minor variant of hemifacial microsomia. I can see in looking at your pictures you have some orbital dystopia (lower eye socket) with malar (cheekbone) hypoplasia as well as some chin asymmetry. (shift towards the underdeveloped left side) The best treatment approach would be orbital floor augmentation, medial z-plasty canthoplasty, cheek augmentation and a chin straightening genioplasty. But probably what bothers you the most is the cheek-eye area which is what you see and look at the most.

I believe the eye and cheek area could be significantly improved but I wouldn’t use the term ‘correction’ as that implies they could be made perfectly normal which they can’t can’t. It is just a question of how close to normal can they be made.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana