Can A Standard Chin Implant Lengthen The Lower Third Of My Face?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I would like to give my face a little bit more definition and therefore lengthen the lower third of my face, while achieving a more harmonic chin – / jawline in profile view. 

Thus I would like to know your opinion on, if a standard anatomical style chin implant placed very low at the border of the mandible, could create to a certain extend such an effect? 

Additionally I have pinned a photo of a girl that achieved exactly the kind of transformation in profile I`m looking for, with as far as I know some kind of chin augmentation and rhinoplasty. 

Thank you very much in advance. 

A: As a general rule you should not use a standard implant in the way it was not designed or intended to be used. That is a setup for positioning/placement/shape issues. Thus taking any standard anatomic chin implant and trying to increase vertical chin height by hanging it off the end of the bone is not a good idea in my opinion. Unique dimensional needs for facial augmentation are why the custom implant design process exists.

I can not speak for what exact chin procedure the female to which you refer underwent. It may have been an implant but,, more likely, could have been a sliding genioplasty which is commonly used to create increased vertical chin height.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana