Will Jaw Angle Implants Benefit My Face?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am a 25 year old male. I’ve had a septorhinoplasty, a chin implant and orthodontic treatment previously. I feel that my previously under projected chin and jaw development are inter-related, however, given that I am fairly satisfied with my corrected bite and improved chin projection, I am interested in augmenting the jaw further (jaw angle implants perhaps) to achieve a more masculine look. There is a bit of asymmetry and the angle of the back of the jaw is more of a 45 degree as opposed to the more masculine 90 degree like angle. It seems that at this point, a sliding genioplasty may not be appropriate without removing the chin implant. I have considered fillers as a temporary ‘trial’ in the short term as a plastic surgeon locally is willing to provide Voluma for free to see if it fits his practice. Any thoughts or observations or anything else that may be beneficial given my facial structure is greatly appreciated.

A: Based on the current position of your chin and the rest of your facial structure, I would have reservations about any type of jaw angle implant augmentation. While you may not like your jaw angle shape now, any change in it would likely make it out of proportion to your chin, particularly if they were changed to a stronger 90 degree shape. That point could be proven, right or wrong, by having some computer imaging done to see how it looks to you. I think that of you do not add some further chin projection (vertical and horizontal) then the back of the jaw will look too ‘heavy’. I don’t think the chin needs to be moved much, maybe 5mm forward and 3mm down, but your chin is too short now to support much jaw angle augmentation.

It is not true that you need to remove a chin implant to do a sliding genioplasty. The osteotomy cut is done right across the top of the implant and the implant is moved forward with the bone as it comes forward and/or down. I have done that exact sliding genioplasty technique numerous times.

You certainly have nothing to lose by having injectable fillers done for jaw angle augmentation. But be aware that they do not produce the exact same effect as to what an implant does at the bone level. So it is not exactly a 1:1 comparative effect. There is probably as much to learn from computer imaging as there is from the filler treatment.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana