Jumping Genioplasty

Q: Dr. Eppley, For several years I have been interested in pursuing jumping genioplasty to correct my elongated chin. I have seen a couple of oral surgeons and to my surprise have became aware this is not a common procedure- I finally found one willing but he lacked confidence and told me the end result would be “subtle.” so… I am not interested in spending thousands of dollars and going through pain for only weak results. I want to have an altered appearance.. that is the point. is this not possible. please advise. 

A: While a sliding genioplasty bone surgery for chin advancement is common, its variant of a jumping geniplasty is not. While the jumping geioiplasty provides maximum horizontal chin increase it also has several other aesthetic sequelae….which may or may not be favorable for a patient. First, it will cause a significant vertical shortening of the chin which may be favorable in your case by your description. Second it is prone to making the chin appear wider because the thickness of the sides of the chin has been doubled. Lastly it is prone to bony stepoffs between the jumped bone segment and the natural underlying jawline. 

It may be that a jumping genioplasty is the right procedure for you but I would at the least need to see pictures to make that determination.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana