If I Take Out My Custom Jawline Implant Will I Go Back To What I Looked Like Before It Was Placed?

Q: Dr. Eppley, Hello Dr Eppley! About 1.5 years ago, I had a custom wrap around silicone jaw implant to fix what i felt were subtle assymmetries. I’m a 35 year old woman, and thought for some reason this would give me the same face shape, only sharper.

This has not only masculinized my narrow face into a square one,  but makes my jaw look boxy rather than tight. After intense depression and being told by my doctor that my constant pain and discomfort would go away ( it hasn’t), he’s now agreed to remove it.  I wish he had when I first wanted it out, which was right away.

My question is this: I have not been able to find many pictures of jaw implant removal– only chin implant removal. I am afraid of developing jowls after this or loose, sagging skin and tissues. My surgeon removing it says not to worry, and that no muscle repair will be necessary, which makes me even more scared to go through with this.

Will I look anything like my old self even if not identical? Do you remove these implants? Have you done so on women?  Can you help me?

A:Removing a wrap around jawline implant is certainly less traumatic than putting it in. The question you are asking is will your face go back to the way it was before the implant placement. That is a multifactorial question based on size of the implant etc. But it is safe to assume that it will largely go back but I would not expect it to be 100%. Changes may occur along the posterior jawline, such as jowling and a little bit of loose tissue over the jaw angle areas, as you have mentioned. But given your dissatisfaction with the outcome (undoubtably a result of the design…women jawline implant designs are much different than men and the most common design error is to not appreciate those aesthetic facial gender differences), whatever the soft tissue changes may be by removing it should be a worthwhile tradeoff.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon