Mouth Widening

Q: Dr. Eppley, I have a small mouth and it makes me very uncomfortable especially when I talk I feel like people are always judging me. Anyway I heard that you can do a procedure know as lateral commissuroplasty or mouth widening. Now I am aware of the trade off of scars and am not worried about it. What I am worried about is if it will look normal. I have never seen any before and after pics and I’m quite skeptical about it. If you could provide me with some information about the procedure to make up my mind. So my questions are, 1.will it look normal or will you be able to tell that its not 2. How successful is these procedure. Thank you very much.

A: Mouth widening surgery produces less visible scar formation than mouth narrowing surgery so it is a more favorable procedure in that regard. The procedure always makes the mouth wider, it is just a question of how much. The goal is to increase the width of the mouth by 5 to 7mms per side. It is really no different than an upper or lower lip vermilion advancement. It is just done on the normal corners of the mouth rather than the ‘north or south’ lip borders.

Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana