Is There Any Thing That Can Be Done To Make My Chin Smaller?

Q:  Please help me out.  I’m so tired of being called Mrs Leno and hiding my lower face.  I have been married for 6 years to a great man but to this day I cover my face when sleeping so he can’t see me and hide my face when we are in a car or at home.  I can’t take this anymore.  I just want to feel beautiful for once.  Can my big chin be made smaller and more proportionate to the rest of my face? I have attached some photos for you to see my chin concerns.

A: Thank you for sending your photos. I can quite clearly see your concerns. You do indeed have a very large lower jaw which is most manifest in the strong chin protrusion. In studying your photos, I think the best method of chin reduction would be an intraoral vertical reduction osteotomy. That would give the greatest amount of vertical reduction and some horizontal reduction as well. There is always some concern about what will happen to the ‘extra’ skin under the chin area when the bone is reduced by this approach. Which is why I would think about doing a simultaneous submentoplasty (skin removal and tightening of the skin) at the same time. Normally this would not be necessary but your very large chin area poses an uncommon problem even in those who seek chin reduction.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis Indiana