Since A Standard Chin Implant Made My Facial Asymmetry Worse What Should Be Used To Replace It?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I have always had facial asymmetry and was unhappy with my profile bc I had a weak chin, so I decided to fix the profile issue. It appears the chin implant, though centered, made the asymmetry worse. I’m interested in trying out jaw fillers (potentially cheek as well if necessary) and visiting the option of removing or correcting the chin implant, as I also THINK it might be too low or angled to low since it seems almost alien to my face and interrupts any facial harmony I had before. Granted, the side view is better than before.

A:Thank you for your inquiry. You are correct in all of your assumptions about the chin implant….in the presence of chin/jaw asymmetry a standard chin implant will exaggerate the asymmetry appearance, it is positioned too low because of the backward inclination of your chin bone (creating more of a 45 degree angled augmentation effect) and it is an implant style that is too wide for a female chin. And like many undesired chin implant results in females it offers an improvement in profile but looks worse in every other facial view.

The question is not whether you are going to remove the chin implant but what are you going to replace it with that would be better. Of that the options are between a custom chin implant vs a sliding genioplasty, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana