Will Chin Augmentation Surgery Lengthen My Short Chin?

Hello, I'm Dr. Lee Sang Kyun, the Head of TS Plastic Surgery.

 

One of the important factors in facial contouring surgery is the overall proportion of the face.

A long chin can give the impression of strong and aged features, while a short chin can make you look younger, but if it is severely short in relation to the overall proportions of your face, it can make you look dowdy and unrefined. A short chin can also cause your face to look wide and large, especially if you have a particularly prominent square jaw, which can sometimes be caused by an overdeveloped mandibular angle, but can also be caused by a short chin.

Most people with a short chin don't consider themselves to have a short chin, so when they consult with a facial contouring surgeon, they may be told that a cheekbone reduction or square jaw surgery can help reduce the width of the face, but it may not be enough to create a slimmer face shape. People with a short chin are hard to achieve the desired effect with a contouring surgery that only shaves the mandibular angle without a chin augmentation procedure to increase the vertical length of the chin.

 

Chin Augmentation, Lengthening Vertically

 

Usually, patients' concerns are long, big, and wide faces, so they research and consider a lot of surgeries to shorten the length and reduce the width of the face, but rarely think about augmenting the short face vertically.

However, as mentioned earlier, if the vertical length is short, it is difficult to achieve a leaner appearance in overall proportion, even if the actual width of the face is not large and wide. In this case, you need a chin extension that extends the vertical length of the face, and there are two main types of surgery to extend the vertical length of the chin.

 

1.     Bone Graft

This is a method of transplanting bone from another area of the body to the tip of the chin during surgery. It is usually done together with a square jaw surgery, so it is usually done by using the resected bone from the square jaw surgery.

Bone that is harvested from elsewhere and transferred is disconnected, so new blood vessels will grow from the chin afterwards. As the transplanted bone settles in and heals, it can absorb some of the bone and not maintain its original size exactly, which can result in it not extending as much as desired in vertical length.

 

1.     Bone Flap - The Most Advanced Method

The most advanced method of chin augmentation involves moving the bone at the tip of the chin while keeping blood vessels attached to it to increase its vertical length.

 

 

Although it is the most complex and difficult surgery, it has the advantage that the blood vessels remain intact after surgery, so there is no bone resorption and the extended chin tip retains its shape and length.

This CT image of patient who has gone through the chin augmentation performed with a bone flap shows that the chin has been extended vertically, which has resulted in an elongation of the face that was previously perceived as wide horizontally, despite not having a square jaw surgery.

Various Chin surgeries depending on the location of the nerve line and the angle.

There are many different names for chin surgery, such as T osteotomy, A osteotomy, sliding genioplasty and etc. This is because the nerve lines at the tip of the chin require a different method of osteotomy, and because the chin is a three-dimensional part of the body that is not only important from the front, but also from the sides and 45 degrees.

If you have a receding chin, you'll need a sliding genioplasty to move it forward by adjusting the angle, and if you have a protruding chin, you'll need a sliding genioplasty to move it back.

If the tip is wide, then a chin reduction surgery is required to reduce the horizontal width, and depending on the location of the nerve line, the surgery will be performed through the Y or A incision.

The jowl varies in shape and is affected by angle, so if your chin is long and protruding, you may need a combination of a length reduction and sliding it back, and if wide horizontally, you may need a reduction as well.

 

After 1 Month

 

If you have a short chin like the patient in the photo above, you will need a chin augmentation as described today, but with the combination of a cheekbone reduction and chin augmentation, the length of the chin was increased and the overall appearance was improved without the need for a square jaw surgery.

 

It is important to find a surgeon who is experienced in performing any surgical procedure that is appropriate for you, and who will be able to thoroughly evaluate your condition. If the surgery is too difficult and you end up having to switch to another procedure with similar results, your post-operative satisfaction may be compromised.

 

If you are considering a facial contouring surgery, we recommend that you find a clinic that has a systematic preoperative counseling system, the surgical ability to perform surgery according to the diagnosis, and the ability to provide aftercare service.