What Can Help Make My Face Look Less Long?

Q:  I am very unhappy with the appearence of my jaw and cheek areas. I had ptosis surgery and forehead lift ten years ago. The eyelids are not symmetric but that’s not why I refer to you now. The profile of my face is very long and in my opinion the middle of the face is too far backwards.  I’m interested in what you would propose to make my appearance more harmonic.

A: In reviewing your pictures, you do indeed have a longer vertical length to our face. This is magnified by the short or more posteriorly (backward) position of your chin point and your midface. The cheek and nasal base is very flat and your chin is significantly behind the upper lip, giving your face a more convex profile.

While you can not really shorten the vertical length of your face, you can change how it appears. By bringing forward the midface and chin through bony augmentation, you can achieve better facial balance which will make it appear ‘shorter’. This can be done with cheek and paranasal implants to the midface as well as chin augmentation through either an implant or an osteotomy. I would also recommend comsidering a rhinoplasty as well. Very frequently, long faces have an increased nasal length with a small dorsal hump. This long nose contributes to making the face look longer as well. A small change in the shape of the nose through rhinoplasty can also help change the visual effect to a shorter and more balanced face.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis Indiana