Will My Face Look Less Wide Of My Chin Is Lengthened?

Q: Dr. Eppley, my question is in regards to my face shape. I am twenty years old and I feel my face is too wide. I am in very good shape but I feel as if my face doesn’t have the chiseled look I want. The problem is I believe my cheekbones are too wide and my jaw is too wide also. So I am asking can I somehow do a cheekbone reduction with a jaw reduction and a genioplasty to lengthen my face as a whole. Being only twenty I am strongly considering doing these procedures. I feel I am a relatively good looking guy as I have received many compliments over the years but its a choice I want to make for myself not others. Basically I want to have a male model look. I want something like that to make my face narrower and longer.

A: On a realistic basis you should look at lengthening your face. It is not really possible to have jaw narrowing although it is possible to have some cheek narrowing. A chin osteotomy (sliding genioplasty) can be done to vertically lengthen the face. I would do some computer imaging first to see how that changes the appearance of your face. That will likely create a slightly more narrow face effect. You may find that the need for cheekbone reduction may not be necessary. But let the computer imaging help you through this decision process.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana