Chin Surgery

LegacyUser

Anyone here ever had their chin enlarged through surgery, either by implants or breaking and resetting the jaw bones?

I have a very small jaw and chin that borders on deformity and i've decided to look into the cosmetic surgery options. I've seen one surgeon already who told me i need to see a maxillofacial specialist since it the solution might not be as simple as putting in an implant but it may be necessary to break and reset the actual jaw bones.

I would just like to hear if anyone has had one of these operations, either implant or resetting, and their experiences of it.

LegacyUser

Dear Chinster,

The surgery you are referring to is called a genioplasty. There are several different types of genioplasty surgery depending on the chin deficiency or the position of the chin in relation to the rest of the jawbone.

There are several things that the surgeon will likely assess with regard to your chin.

First the surgeon will decide whether your chin deficiency is a perceived one or an actual one (this is basically a matter of the surgeons opinion). Then he/she will decide what is contributing to this deficiency. Is your lower jaw as a whole causing this problem or is it just your chin that is deficient? Is there a facial height deficiency?

Usually a surgeon will assess the chin with regard to nasal position and position of other landmarks of the skull using standardised cephalometric analysis.

Depending on the type of surgery you need, you may or may not need your teeth wired together, orthodontics and around a six week recovery. This is orthognathic surgery and corrects a poor relationship between the jaws or between the jaws and skull base.

If this is not required, and a genioplasty is all that is needed, you will probably still need a six week recovery (not all of it in hospital - I'm not sure how long). You will be sore!

There are risks involved with both surgeries such as numbness or tingling sensations in the lip, cheek or tongue and you will usually go under general anaesthetic.

You should be able to find stuff if you google it.

The results of the surgery can be quite dramatic and so most people would probably say that its worth it. I don't know anyone who has actually gone through it though.

G