I have a weak chin and mentolabial fold, would a genioplasty help? (Photos)

"A formal evaluation would be needed to determine what's best. Many of my patients try to avoid surgery, so we perform a non-surgical chin augmentation treatment with injectable fillers. Fillers like Radiesse, Voluma, BellaFill as well as Sculptra are injected into the area, improving the overall appearance of the lower face and balancing the jaw and lip harmony. We use cannula injections to meticulously contour and project the chin, soften the chin along the jawline and improve the chin crease.

Implants are still a great option once you are 100% positive that you are ready for a permanent enhancement.​ I suggest getting a consultation with an experienced cosmetic dermatologist and facial sculpting expert; our practice is located right here in Los Angeles. Best, Dr. Emer"

Sliding genioplasty is an extreme surgery that I don’t recommend unless you have functional issues. To fix the cosmetic problem of a weak chin or projection, a chin implant or fillers would give you the correction you want. However, if you’re not sure you’re ready for surgery, but still want to improve and strengthen your chin and jaw, I’d suggest augmenting your chin with Sculptra and/or Voluma. If you like your new look, you can make it permanent with a chin implant. Liposuction can slim the jawline and neck. I hope that helps.
 

Thanks for your question and including the photos! You are a perfect candidate for chin augmentation. I think you are correct in saying it would help improve your overall facial harmony.  Your options would be a "sliding genioplasty" which involves cutting and moving your jawbone, or placement of a chin implant. Both have pros and cons which are best discussed during an in-person consultation. Find a board-certified expert that you trust to review your goals. Best of luck!

 First of all thank you very much for your question. 
Chin augmentation procedures without implants always require a lot of patience from the patient. The healing process itself alone takes several weeks. I would recommend one out of the two following options:
First you could opt for an implant which could be measured first and then put in place through a small surgery, possibly as an outpatient procedure.
 The second possibility would be to fill the chin with dermal fillers, this will take nearly no downtime and could be done in the office and you would be able to judge right away the shape of your new chin. 

The main issue for you is to ensure you get a sliding genioplasty and not an implant. Your growth pattern is quite 'vertical' and the lip tension to close your lips would force an implant back into the bone, which is not desirable at all. Consult with a Cosmetic Maxillofacial surgeon

 Hi, I have performed many facial shaping procedures using dermal fillers, silastic facial implants (chin implants, lips implants, cheek implants), liposuction and/or facelifts for over 30 years.  I have performed many facial shaping procedures, including Chin Augmentation with dermal fillers or silastic chin implants, for over 30 years.  From the photos, your chin is very weak.   When the chin is weak, this creates an imbalance making the nose appear larger, the mid face top heavy, the lower face looks short, de-emphasizes the lips and allows early formation of a "double chin".    Which is better, chin implant or sliding genioplasty.  We place silastic chin implants through a small, curved incision under the chin using local anesthetic in 30 minutes or less.  This is "far" less invasive than a sliding genioplasty that requires cuts in the bone with plates or screws.  For that reason and because the aesthetic results are so good with a properly placed silastic chin implant of the correct shape and size...in my humble opinion there's no comparison.  The chin implant is quicker, easier, with far less surgery and healing, less unwanted side effects with results that are highly effective and reliable.
 Proper placement of a silastic chin implant adds forward projection to the chin thereby creating harmony and balance to the lower face.  Using the same incision, liposuction can be performed to reduce the fat and further shape the neck.  Excess skin, from below the chin, can also be removed through the same incision.  
 I have found that placement of a silastic chin implant, through a small curved incision under the chin (also allows excess skin removal) to be very safe, quick, highly effective and far less invasive than a sliding genioplasty (requires extensive tissue dissection, bone cuts and placement of metal screws and plates to secure the cut segments of bone).  I perform chin implant surgery in 30 minutes or less, often using a local anesthetic alone.  In my opinion, you are a good candidate for chin implant surgery.    When consulting with surgeons perhaps ask not only is your chin weak but do they have experience performing chin augmentation?  The attached video shows how I determine whether the chin is weak.  The second part of what that surgeon said is absolutely correct.  The selection of the proper size, shape and thickness as well as the proper placement of the silastic chin implant are all "key" elements in creating a naturally looking chin.  If too large of an implant is used in a woman, the chin can look relatively masculine.  That's where experience, performing chin implant surgery, comes into play.
  There are numerous shapes and sizes of silastic chin implants, some of which are rather old shapes that do not yield the desired "natural" aesthetic results.  The Curvilinear shape is an example that is similar to the old "button" implants (had no wings or lateral tapering elements of the newer EAC design) that created a "pharaoh" shaped chin.  The EAC or extended anatomical chin implant style offers, in my experience and humble opinion, the most natural, aesthetic result when augmenting the chin.   I prefer placement of a  silastic chin implant through a small, curved incision under the chin (submental) instead of through the mouth for the following reasons:
*The submental approach is sterile while the intra-oral approach is not.
*The submental approach requires limited dissection as it is much closer to where the chin implant needs to be placed along the center (front) and lower most sections of the chin on each side (where the wings are placed).  The intra-oral approach by contrast requires dissection all the way down the entire section of the chin in order to reach the same areas for chin implant placement.  This leads to several issues in my humble opinion.  The attachment of the chin muscle to the bone must be cut during the tissue dissection, the sensory nerves (mental) and motor nerves (marginal mandibular nerve) that move the muscles of the lips and mouth) are all in much greater jeopardy of injury because of the added dissection required.
 In my opinion and experience there is no need to secure a silastic chin implants with sutures and screws when the following conditions are met:
 * Select a silastic chin implant (I prefer the EAC) that doesn't have too much projection (thickness) as this becomes a problem stabilizing the implant under the periosteum when the implant is too thick.
 * Place the implant through a small curved incision under the chin which allows direct access to the periosteum (under the mentalis muscle) while preserving the muscle attachments.  This prevents upward migration of the implant which can occur when the intra-oral approach is used that severs the muscle attachments.
 * While the center or body of the chin implant should be placed at a perpendicular angle the chin bone in order to provide the proper forward projection to the chin, the "wings" of the implant should be at a lower level and follow the inferior (bottom) edge of the jaw line on either side of the chin.  When properly dissected and placed, this will be below the mental nerve foramen and be just wide enough of a dissection to accommodate the tapering wing.  There isn't enough room in this technique to allow the wings to migrate upward and contact the mental nerve.  In contrast if the dissection, along the sides of the chin (jaw line) are performed too high...this will place the mental nerve in danger and if the side dissection is too wide, the wings will have a space within which to migrate upward.
 * We have all of our chin implant patients avoid touching and feeling their chin implant for 1 month post op.  We also ask that they sleep on a U-shaped airline pillow for the same time.
  Our experience when following the technique described above is that the silastic chin implant does not need to be secured with sutures or screws and does not move.  I have placed silastic chin implants in military, SWAT, LE, professional fighters, as well as actors and many regular people who are active.  In addition, I have had the opportunity on numerous occasions to replace silastic chin implants (placed by others) that had been screwed into the bone.  During the replacement it was evident that the metal screws pushed right through the soft silastic implant as it was tightened down on the hard chin bone.  Which makes perfect sense.  So in the long run, these fixation methods alone are no guarantee that the implant won't move.  Proper placement, proper implant pocket creation and meticulous closure of all the tissues layers is what is required in my humble opinion.
Hope this helps.