How Can I Make My Face Shorter?

Q: Dr. Eppley, my face is vertically long and very narrow which gives my face a dog snout appearance would you recommend a sliding genio or vertical chin reduction? Suppose I vertically shorten it will it still give off the forward look? I would like to align my facial profile minus the implants, is there any way I can build it up from my own bone anatomy? I’m African American and I’ve seen Caucasian people whose faces are both vertically and horizontally more proportionate and that’s the look I want to get. What are your recommendations? I would have split jaw surgery to widen my face instead of implants as well. 

A:  Without seeing your facial pictures I can not give you an accurate answer. But I can make some  general comments. If you want to use your own bone to shorten and widen your face, the only two aesthetic procedures to consider in doing that are a vertical chin reduction and widening cheek osteotomies. Neither of these will make the back of the jawline wider and there is no natural bony way to do that. That always requires jaw angle implants to widen the mandibular ramus.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana