What Is The Best Way To Reconstruct Lost Jaw Angles From Prior V Line Surgery?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in jawline enhancement surgery. In fact I already found a surgeon locally and they arranged my surgery for next Wednesday. The reason why I am contacting you is because I accidentally saw a lady who did jawline/chin surgery from the same surgeon as mine, unfortunately she had a really bad experience. Not just her face looks weird but also she had to get implants removed due to infections. After I read her story and saw her pictures i just feel unsafe and scared. Now I am not sure if I should cancel it…. My problem is the angle of the jaw. Eight years ago I did double jaw surgery in Korea and at same time they did “v line” too , my face looks good in front view but profile not good because it is to straight and no angle at all. So my question is if I fly to Indianapolis how long do I have to stay there from first consultation to surgery. Looking forward to hear from you guys . Thank you!!

A:I can not speak to your concerns in regards to your current planned surgical procedure. What I can speak to is what I normally do in the ‘reconstruction’ of the jaw angle area in patients who have had prior V-line jaw contouring surgery. Since the jaw angles have been amputated and the two sides are never symmetric, my preference is to make custom jaw angle implants due to the altered anatomy in which a portion of the implants has to ‘hang’ off the bone so to speak. This is why I have found to be the most effective with the least risks of problems. It is possible to use standard vertical lengthening jaw angle implants also but there is a higher risk of postoperative asymmetry by doing so.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapols, Indiana