What Type Of Jaw Reduction Do I Need To Make It Look More Feminine?

Q: Dr. Eppley, What type of jawline reduction do I need? In my prior facial feminization surgery they did jaw reduction but the inmprovement is not enough to really make my jaw area less masculine.

A: Good meeting and talking you this past weekend. As per our discussion I have attached some imaging looking at what I envision for your jawline reduction/reshaping. Your excessive jaw size is really in the anterior 2/3s of the jaw, particularly having had prior jaw angle width reduction. I would hate to amputate your jaw angles off in the traditional v line surgery approach as, while that creates the most dramatic jaw reduction effect, it also can create loose tissues over the angles/neck as well as gives a high jaw angle look which for Caucasian women today is not the desired jawline look they seek. Thus I would consider a modified approach using  a t-shaped genioplasty with vertical and midline wedge resections as well as inferior border removals back to but not including the jaw angle bone. I would need to evaluate a lateral cephalometric and panorex x-rays to make measurements as to the feasibility of these two intraoperative jaw reshaping techniques.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana