Will A New Style Chin Implant Make Me Look Better Than My Old One?

Q:  have a older button style chin implant and would like to replace it with a new one. I want a chin implant that creates a more masculine look with lateral fullness in the mandible area and a more squared off appearance to the chin. I would also like to have a lip reduction to rebalance my facial proportions so that the jaw line is more prominent and the lips less so. Let me know if this is something you can do all at the same time.

A: Older style chin implants were much smaller in size and ‘non-anatomic’ in shape. They usually just fit over the central part or button of the chin, providing only central horizontal augmentation. While such chin augmentation shape can be acceptable in some patients (usually females), it does not provide the best chin shape in most males. It makes the frontal chin shape too triangular. In men, squaring of the chin shape produces a much more pleasing facial change. While profile views shows good horizontal advancement, patients do not usually see themselves that way and using that view as a judgment of the final result can be deceiving.

Today, chin implants come in a wide variety of styles and shapes that can achieve more than just a simple gain in profile lengthening. Men, in particular, often want a more masculine chin look which means a more square frontal shape and one that blends into the side of the jaw without an obvious transition. In addition, some increase in vertical length is often aesthetically desireable.

Chin implants can easily be exchanged in styles and size, regardless of whether they were placed from under the chin (my preference) or through the mouth. Pocket size and positioning may need to be altered but this does not usually involve the extent of dissection and postoperative discomfort that occurred from the first chin implant placement procedure.

Lip procedures can easily be done at the time of chin augmentation, particularly if the path of implant insertion is done from under the chin. (submental incision)

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana