Should I Have SA Sliding Genioplasty or Would A Custom Jawline Implant Be Better?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I currently have a rhinoplasty surgery scheduled for later this summer with another surgeon.

Please find attached images of my face at various angles. My main goals with this procedure would be: from the front, a wider jaw and bigger/wider chin; from the side, enhancing the overall look of my profile view / chin projection / etc.

Here are a few questions that would be useful to know:

– Rate of infection for custom wraparound jaw implants / how many that he puts does he end up needing to take out?

– Is there a “constant” risk of infection over the course of your life with the implant, or is the main risk really just in the first 6 months or so?

– Since I’m getting rhinoplasty, would it make more sense to get this implant done before or after that other procedure?

– Do I look like I would be a candidate for sliding genioplasty, or would custom implants be better?

A: Thank you for your inquiry and sending your pictures. In just looking at the pictures you are not an obvious great candidate for the wrap around jawline implant approach because of:

1) Your thick skin…which often makes the jawline look bigger but not necessarily better defined…sometimes it may just look fuller/fatter.

2) You have reasonable chin projection as seen in the side view picture. Your jaw angles are deficient/not defined but your chin projection and jaw angles are disproportionate in size. (the chin may be a little undersized? but the jaw angles are much more so.

While I could see a combination of a sliding genioplasty and jaw angle implants (the three corner approach) I worry that connecting them may just make the jawline look big but not defined. The jaw angle implants may have to be custom or semi-custom made because of the width needed. (greater than 10mms) to really see them.

In regards to whether a rhinoplasty or jawline augmentation should be done first, that is a pure aesthetic/personal decision. You do the one first that has the greatest aesthetic importance to you. In other words ask yourself if you could only do one and never the other (which is obviously not true but a good way think about it) which one would you do?

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana