What Can Be Done To Make My Face Look Straighter?

Q:  Hi I would like to inquire about information for the correction of facial asymmetry. I have been irritated by the clear tilt in my cheeks and jaw for sometime. My head just doesn’t appear to sit on my neck correctly. After reading your artilesl very carefully I feel I may be a candidate for this. I must stress I understand perfection is unobtainable, however, this has bothered me for sometime. I hope someone can get back to me.

A: The origin of many facial asymmetries is developmental, the facial skeleton is rotated based on a skull growth issue. In craniofacial biology, it is well recognized that how the skull forms through plate expansion and underlying brain growth has a major inflence on how the facial bones develop. If the skull is twisted to any degree so will be the face. This can affect everything resulting in asymmetries of the forehead, brow bones, orbits, cheeks, nose, and jaw.

This facial asymmetry can be camouflaged, or made less apparent, by making adjustments to any of the facial prominences/flattenings. This could include bony reductions or shavings or augmentation through the use of implants. It takes a careful analysis to choose a balance of bony reductions and augmentations to achieve the look of improved facial asymmetry. What procedures would be of most benefit to any particular patient would depend on their individual anatomic issues. Common procedures include forehead augmentation, brow bone reduction, cheek implants, chin osteotomies and jaw angle implants.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis Indiana