Enhancements for the Jaw and Chin

A strong jawline is one of the hallmarks of beauty in both men and women. Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Channing Tatum owe a great deal of their physical appeal to their defined, crisp jawline. Not everyone, however, is born with this trait. Furthermore, with age, the jawline becomes “weak.” The fat and tissues in the upper third of the face start to drop, changing the shape of the face from an oval or heart shape to that of a square.

Board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Peter B. Fodor of Los Angeles, CA discusses how filler is being used to augment the chin and jawline to quickly and easily restore a more youthful glow to the aging face.

Heart or Round Shaped Face = Beauty

“A strong chin and a very defined jawline – with a good definition of not only the jawline, but also the shadow just inferior to the jawline – is oftentimes considered signs of good looks,” says Dr. Fodor. This is primarily due to the fact that the eye perceives a heart or oval-shaped face as being attractive. Unfortunately, age allows the fat that was in the upper third of the face start to descend. This causes the face to become more square or heavy in shape.

With any aesthetic facial procedure, whether it’s a surgical facelift or filler, one of the main goals for the plastic surgeon is to restore this oval or heart shape to the face. When you look at paintings and sculptures by masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, they often depicted beautiful defined jawlines that ended with the chin. “Nowadays with fillers, we can do this very nicely for patients,” explains Dr. Fodor.

Chin Augmentation with Fillers

Innovation is the name of the game in plastic surgery; surgeons are constantly looking for better ways to service their patients. This is especially true when it comes to fillers. There is such a wide range of long-lasting options these days that it allows surgeons to use fillers in new and exciting ways. A chin augmentation used to require an implant, but now, the same result can be achieved with fillers.

The advantage of fillers for enhancing the jawline and chin is that the procedure requires no downtime. The surgeon injects the filler right onto the bone. With age, patients can develop an indentation half way between the chin and the back of the mandible or jawbone. Fillers can fill in that hallow thus straightening out the jawline. They can also be used to make the mandible “more forceful looking,” explains Dr. Fodor.

Don’t Forget the Masseter Muscles

When it comes to jaw and chin enhancement procedures, surgeons will often combine fillers with Botox injections to diminish the masseter muscles, the muscles that we use to chew. Many patients, however, grind their teeth either during sleep or when they exercise. This excessive grinding causes the masseter muscles to become overdeveloped, adding to the squarish look of the face.

In fact, a patient can have really good cheekbones, but they often get lost due to over-development of the masseter muscles. It’s important with any kind of jaw and chin enhancement to examine the whole face as all of the elements must work in harmony.

Rhinoplasty & the Weak Chin

Very often, patients who come in for a nose job or rhinoplasty also have a weak or receding chin. When examining the face as a whole, the nose may not actually be that strong or have an unusually large hump – the problem is that it rests next to a weak chin.

This is what causes the nose to look “off.” It would, therefore, be a big mistake to over-resect the nose, and not do anything about the chin. And while Dr. Fodor and his colleagues still use chin implants, injectables have become much more common for these reasons:

• fast
• basically painless
• require no downtime
• effective
• have long-lasting results (up to 2-3 years)

“What we need to do with patients is give them choices and explain the pros and cons of implants and fillers,” says Dr. Fodor.

Jaw & Chin Enhancements with Fillers Procedure

When using fillers to enhance the jawline and chin, plastic surgeons use a cannula instead of a needle. This is the same instrument used in liposuction procedures. It’s a hollow, tubular instrument shaped like a needle, but with a blunt tip. It’s gently inserted through a pin prick in the skin, and easily maneuvered to avoid damage to blood vessels and nerves.

With this technique, there is very little post-op bruising and swelling, and the results can last anywhere from 2-3 years depending. “Patients have been ecstatic with doing chin and jawline augmentations,” says Dr. Fodor.

For so long, plastic surgery has been mostly focused on the forehead and the eyes with the lower part of the face somewhat ignored or neglected. Thanks to the ease of jawline and chin augmentations with fillers, this no longer needs to be the case.