How soon after a rhinoplasty can a sliding genioplasty be performed?

Question

Please don't tell me these should be ideally performed at the same time - I understand that. I'm curious what the actual restriction is for doing a procedure like this one after the other though. Is it weeks, months, etc? Does the healing of your nose affect anything about a genioplasty being performed, or is it the time until you're allowed more surgery to do with anesthesia and its effects on your body?

Michael P. Morrissette, DDS, FACS · Answer

Thanks for your question. A sliding genioplasty can be performed anytime following a rhinoplasty procedure. The healing of the rhinoplasty surgery will not be affected by the genioplasty surgery. I perform genioplasty surgery in my accredited surgery center with intravenous sedation. The surgery takes about 1 hour and the incision is inside the lower lip so there is no outward scar. Following genioplasty there is some swelling and occasionally some bruising. I inform patients that they will need about a week recovery before they can resume normal physical activities though some patients return to work/school within 3 days. Recovery is not the same for each patient.

Zoran Potparic, MD · Answer

There is no time frame for your second surgery, genioplasty. It i safe to perform it as soon as a week after nose surgery and any time after. Discuss your concerns with your plastic surgeon. Good luck.

Roger Tsai, MD · Answer

Wait at least one month so that the nose has some time to heal and solidify before having the genioplasty performed.  Depending on your health, anesthesia could be performed sooner than a month but I would still wait the month to allow everything to settle.

Barry L. Eppley, MD, DMD · Answer

There months after a rhinoplasty would be good interval of time to undergo the sliding genioplasty. That gives you plenty of time to recover and have a good idea about the new shape of your nose. But it would also depend on why you are separating the two procedures. That reason would also influence the interval between the two procedures.

William Portuese, MD · Answer

A sliding genioplasty is performed under general anesthesia, just like a rhinoplasty, therefore it's best to probably separate the two procedures by at least a month or two. A sliding genioplasty is  performed by  an oral surgeon under general anesthesia in a hospital setting with an overnight hospital stay. Many instances require the upper  jaw and lower jaw sliding genioplasty to make sure that the teeth fit together properly. A chin implant can be performed for cosmetic purposes to augment the chin forward when patients don't want the more invasive sliding genioplasty procedure. For many  before-and-after rhinoplasty/ chin implant examples, please see the link and the video below

How soon after a rhinoplasty can a sliding genioplasty be performed?

Answers (7)