Will A Mentalis Muscle Resuspension Help With Closing My Mouth?

Q: Dr. Eppley,  I am in desperate need of finding the right person to help me with mentalis resuspension. I had two previous chin/genioplasty surgeries at least a year ago and my biggest fear is not being able to close my lips together without strain or headaches.  The first surgery was a chin implant under the skin, the second surgery was done by an different surgeon who did a removal of the implant and performed a genioplasty of about 8 millimeters of my bony chin moved forward intraorally. The last surgery was done to correct the ptosis or wrinkling of the chin by the same surgeon a year later by putting in a button chin implant. The result was horrible and was removed a couple of months later and me not being able to close my mouth without strain was the after effect. I’m so depressed…I have thousands of photos where you can tell I’m trying to close my mouth or trying to make it not noticeable that I can’t function like a normal person anymore. I regret the surgeries trying to reach perfection and now I lost the ability to just do a simple thing of closing the mouth without strain. I have been turned down by surgeon’s either because they don’t see a problem or don’t think it’s anything that can be done. Please give me options. So far your the only one I hear about that has enough knowledge in this area.  

The photo’s here are examples of myself trying to take nice picture’s but as you can see every photo my lips are open. That is the best I can do as far as closing my mouth without really forcing myself but when I do the last picture describes it…it’s tight as if I’m sucking on a sucker and it’s very uncomfortable.

A: Thank you for providing the pictures and a detailed explanation of your chin surgery history. What you have is some lower lip retraction, tightness and chin dimpling. These problems can not be corrected by a mentalis resuspension as you really don’t have a muscle displacement issue. Your chin tissues are scarred and do not have the flexibility that they once had after several surgeries. I do not see that invasive surgery will provide any significant relief and may likely even make it worse or at least no better for the effort. My suggestion is that of fat injections using PRP. The tissues need to be softened/scar reduction and to try and get some suppleness back into them. This can be combined with V-Y mucosal advancement of the lower lip. This approach is my opinion has a better chance of improvement than trying to release and reposition the scarred mentalis muscle.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana