Will Jaw Angle Implants Improve The Asymmetry In My Jawline?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I have asymmetry of my jawline that I want to improve. While I think  both jaw angles need to be be bigger for a better jawline look, they are not the same size now. What is the best way to making them both bigger and more symmetric? I don’t want to get jaw angle implants and then afterwards have bigger jaw angles that may look even more asymmetric. 

A: There are two approaches to both increasing and improving the symmetry of your jawline. Either use two different-sized jaw angle implants or have custom jaw angle implants made. Stock off-the-shelf implants are less expensive but it is a guessing game in terms of the symmetrical improvement. If you can live with less than perfect symmetry then this is the way to go. Even in the patient who has weak but symmettric jaw angles before surgery, it is difficult to end up with perfect symmetry afterwards even using two symmetric  and identically-sized implants. If you want the most ideal symmetry possible, then custom jaw angle implants are needed but they are more expensive. The most common complications from jaw angle implants, ironically, is asymmetry so you can see that having initial asymmetry makes jaw angle implant surgery even more challenging than it normally is.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana