How Can I Fix My Chin After Chin Implant Removal?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I had a chin implant placed submentally in June 2014 and removed in September 2014 due to neuralgia and difficulty smiling/moving. The implant was placed through a submental incision, medium mittleman pre-jowl implant through same incision. Now that 4 months has gone by, my chin sags and the muscles are stretched. It looks fine at rest but when I smile it rolls off the chin and dimples. I am devastated. I am determined to have this fixed. How long should I wait before considering surgery to repair?

A: As you have surmised, chin implant removal can cause sag of chin tissues which often is most apparent in dynamic motion such as smiling. With your face type why you had placed a longer winged pre jowl implant is puzzling but that is beyond the scope of this answer. That longer style implant strips off more tissue along the lower edge of the chin and mandibular bone. While usually that would restick back down into place after such a short period of implantation, yours obviously has not. How to treat this type of chin ptosis is difficult but there are two basic approaches. A submental approach aims to remove and tuck the loose tissues from the underside of the chin but does so at the expense of a submental scar. An intraoral approach aims to tuck the loose tissues back down/up but its success often depends on placing a small chin implant (button type) that helps fill the space where some of the original implant once was. (center of the bone) There are advantages and disadvantages to either approach as I have mentioned.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana