What Procedures Do I Need To Improve My Facial Asymmetry?

Q: Dr. Eppley, My face is slightly asymmetrical; the right side of my face is less wide than the left side. Consequently, my jaw line is more square and substantial on the left, and less so (its a little more rounded) on the right. There is also a greater fat buildup in my right cheek, since it has less area to distribute itself over than the left. Finally, my nose has a fatty round tip (I am not sure of the proper medical term for it, but I can feel that the problem isn’t the cartilage, so it must be a fat buildup), and it obscures the definition of my nostrils.

So, the surgeries I would like to have done are 1) rhinoplasty (reducing and defining the tip of my nose; the cartilage and bone are fine), 2) buccal fat removal from my right cheek, and 3) a jaw implant on my right jaw to balance with the left side. Each of these features affects the others, so I assume that it is best done by the same doctor, and at the same time under general anesthesia. The reason I am writing to you about this is because of all the plastic surgeons I have researched, you are one of the only ones who explicitly does jaw implants, not just chin implants or facial injections. I understand my face will not be totally symmetrical after this procedure (my whole left skeleton is slightly wider than the right side), but I do want to balance out the corner of my jaw, the fat in my cheek, and the nose with the rest of the face.

I have attached an informal frontal shot of my face, so you have some sort of visual to accompany my description.

A: Thank you for your inquiry. I believe your description of your facial asymmetry and your approach to improve it is spot on. I would just make a few modifications/clarifications on your proposed procedures. First, the round tip of the nose is not primarily caused by the subcutaneous fat under the skin. It is a component to it and minimally modifiable due the risk of skin necrosis of the overlying skin. The major component to making one’s nasal  tip less ‘fat’ is to modify the underlying lower alar cartilages, particularly that of the dome area. Thus a tip rhinoplasty changes the size and width of these cartilages to make the tip more refined. Second, a buccal lipectomy affects the fullness right under the cheekbone and not further out on the face. Lastly, the type of jaw angle implanted needed would be a lateral augmentation style that only adds width and not length to the jaw angle area.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis,Indiana