Can I Get A Tapered Chin Implant After Having Had A Prior Bony Genioplasty?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I had a genioplasty almost 6 months ago and then I had to get a revision in April or 2 months ago exactly because the bone was not healing. When I touch my chin it feels fleshy, so some of the volume is soft tissue since it was reduced from the first genioplasty. When I see people who have chin implants I feel so envious since I feel like the implants give such a contoured and tapered look. Here is my question. Based on what you see do you think I could get a very very small implant just to give it a shape that is more contoured and tapered? Is there an implant small enough for this?

A:As a general statement one can always add a shaped implant to the end of the chin bone even though one has had prior genioplasty. The key question is the more implant projection the implant creates the more a tapered shape is going to be seen. However that may or may not be more projection then you can aesthetically tolerant. A ‘very very small chin implant’ which can have a very V-shaped tapered shape may not necessarily create much of a difference externally if you have a thick soft tissue chin pad.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon