The New Way to Change Your Profile

Chin Implants by a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon

Chin Implants/Chin Augmentation
Are you looking for a way to balance out your face and see more defined and prominent facial features?  Most people immediately look towards rhinoplasty, known commonly as a nose job, to help the face look more symmetrical.  However, sometimes the nose is not the answer.  The chin, though a larger portion of the face, is often overlooked.  Chin augmentation, also known as menoplasty, can create a stronger, longer or wider chin, giving your facial profile a clean and beautiful equilibrium.


The Procedure
There are a variety of options available to reshape your chin and jawline.  Chin implants are the most common route for patients who are seeking a different look, who have normally functioning teeth and jaws.  It is an outpatient procedure, performed under either general anesthesia, or in some cases, merely light sedation.  A small incision will be made either inside the mouth or just...

just under the chin and the implant is placed inside.  The implant can be made of your bone and fat tissue, silicone, mesh, or other biological inserts, depending on the needs of each individual patient.    My patients have had the best and most natural looking results with silicone implants.


Like breast implants, chin implants come in all different shapes and sizes that can be modified and sculpted to suit each patient.  In your evaluation, I will take measurements, examine your profile, and judge how your chin lines up with the anatomic landmarks on your face.  This helps me to determine if you would benefit from a chin implant, as well as deciding on the size of the implant needed.  Often, it is beneficial to make a chin longer or bigger in comparison to the nose.  This helps to balance out the face and provide a more defined looking profile.


Recovery
The procedure will take less than an hour, unless you are having additional procedures performed simultaneously.  Often a procedure to correct bite problems, a nose job, or facial liposuction, will be done at the same time as a chin augmentation.  Women with weak chins have seen spectacular results after receiving a neck lift combined with a chin augmentation.  This is because the new chin fills out the portion of the neck area that has always been weak, and this adds to the sharpness and youthful appearance of the jawline.  See illustrative photos here.  

Recovery time varies by patient and scope of the procedure, but you can generally expect to be back at work between 5 and 7 days after the implants have been inserted.  Strenuous activities will need to be avoided for about two weeks, to give the skin and tissue adequate time to heal.  There may be some slight discomfort and swelling for the first few days, which can be aided with prescribed medication.  To maintain results and reduce the discomfort, it is best to minimize smiling and talking for the first day or two.