If you’d like to strengthen a weak chin or create a more distinctive profile, your facial plastic surgeon wants to see you. Chin augmentation can balance your face by resizing your chin so that is longer or bigger and in better harmony with your nose.
There have never been as many excellent options as there are today for reshaping this prominent facial feature. The positive yet subtle change in appearance that comes after chin augmentation may be attributed to weight loss, a new beauty regimen, or a workout routine but it’s uncommon for someone to ask, “Have you had your chin done?”
Injectable Fillers for Chin Augmentation
As well as traditional surgical options, non-invasive treatments are now being offered that can improve your profile. Injectable fillers are especially appealing to people who are not yet ready to take the leap into surgery, and who want the fastest possible recovery time.
“Fillers have zero recovery. You can go out to lunch immediately afterwards.” – Dr Derrick E. Antell, spokesperson for the American Academy of Plastic Surgeons.
The drawback to these soft tissue fillers is that the results may not be permanent, but this is also a plus.Individuals can use fillers to test-drive a new chin shape before making the profile permanent with chin augmentation surgery.
What Is Chin Augmentation Surgery?
A weak chin can make a perfectly sized nose appear too large, or make a neck look “fleshy.” Mentoplasty is a medical procedure performed by a facial plastic surgeon to correct a weak or receding chin. The goal is to enhance or reshape the chin by inserting an implant and/or by moving or reshaping bones.
The subtle face-changing effects of chin augmentation make it a popular procedure with both men and women. The best candidatesare people who have weak or receding chins (microgenia), but a normal bite.
It is extremely common for people who are having chin augmentation to combine it with other facial surgery procedures such as facelift surgery, blepharoplasty, lip lift, and/or cheek implants.
Chin Implants
Chin implants are commonly made of soft, flexible silicone. The implant is placed by your surgeon through a small incision and permanently attached to your jawbone with sutures, screws, or other binding methods. In all, the surgery takes 30 to 45 minutes, longer if it is combined with other procedures.
The incision may be made outside the mouth and under the chin or inside the mouth along the gum line. Because the incision for augmentation surgery is made under the chin, it is not easily seen. Additionally, the surgery produces only minimal scarring, adding to the natural results that this procedure offers.
Another advantage of chin implants for chin augmentation is the composition of the implant itself. The silicone material is biocompatible, so your body will not treat it as a foreign object and reject it.
Moving Bones for Chin Enhancement
In some instances, a patient may benefit from a procedure called sliding genioplasty, or chin advancement.This procedure involves cutting the chin bone horizontally and rotating it to make your chin straighter. Sliding genioplasty can also lengthen or shorten the chin to create a harmonious facial appearance.
In this procedure, an incision is made inside the mouth along the lower gum to give the surgeon access to the jaw. A bone saw is used to cut the jawbone, which can then be moved to a new position and screwed or wired into place.
The procedure takes between one and three hours, depending on the complexity of the adjustment.