Is A Chin Implant Or Osteotomy Better For Me?

Q: Dr. Eppley, here is a some photos of my face from both side angles and front on.  Any suggestions you have on improving my chin / side profile will be appreciated.  I’ve already have a very low fat content in my body, but my jawline is still ill-defined.  I’ve been considering a sliding genioplasty to move my chin forward.  I play a lot of contact sports (boxing, wrestling, soccer), so I imagine a chin implant isn’t a great option as it could shift.  Let me know what you think. Thanks a lot for your time.

A:  Thank you for sending your pictures. It is a little hard to see precisely your chin position due to the amount of facial hair, but I have some projected imaging based on much chin advancement I think you would need. I would estimate from 7 to 9mms forward increase. In addition, I have opened up the osteotomy to give some vertical chin lengthening as well of about 3mms. You are correct in assuming that moving your own chin bone long term is better than using an implant if you do participate in a lot of contact sports. Chin implants can be used and screwed into place so shifting with trauma is not a big concern. But it only makes sense to not unnecessarily expose a protruding chin implant to trauma. Your bone is much better designed to withstand that than an implant.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana