Can Chin Surgery help my chin point more downwards? (photos)

A genioplasty would allow for your chin to be brought forward and down, creating more facial balance. It would also strengthen your jawline and lessen the labiomental fold. It is a permanent procedure with no external scarring (everything is done from inside the mouth). The procedure itself takes only 1-1.5 hours, and you would be lightly sedated in what we like to call a "twilight" sleep. I would say that this procedure is most likely to get the outcome you are looking for, but it does involve surgery. Fillers are also an option, but the result would not be as significant, and you would have to keep getting it touched up every year.

It appears that your chin is both short and recessive. As you noted, you have a deep mentolabial fold. In order to correct both problems simultaneously, I would recommend a sliding genioplasty to both lengthen and increase the projection. The surgery is all about facial balance. The surgery is performed in our office with intravenous sedation and most young patients are back to work in 3-5 days. The surgery will not change your bite so eating is allowed the next day.

A good temporary and non-invasive procedure to help project and lengthen your chin would be chin filler. This result can last around a year and give you a chance to determine if you like the aesthetic of having your chin pointed more down. I do think you would be an excellent candidate and it would draw less attention to the deep crease. Another very simple option that might work is adding a few units of neurotoxin to that area such as Botox or Dysport. This relaxes the muscle that pulls your chin upward, the mentalis, and can soften the appearance of the chin while bringing the chin down just a touch. Going forward, I would recommend you to complete multiple in office consultations with board certified experts to discuss your ideal aesthetic goals. This way, they can better assess your face and create an ideal treatment plan for you.

Best of luck,
Kian Karimi MD, FACS

The photographs demonstrate a recessive Chin profile, for which a chin implant can improve. Placement of a chin implant augments the chin forward, and also gives additional width and vertical height. The procedure can be performed under local anesthesia as an outpatient procedure which takes approximately 30 minutes.

For a permanent chin lengthening effect the correct procedure is an intraoral opening wedge bony genioplasty. This moves the chin down, adds to the lower facial height and will lessen the depth of the labiomental fold. Preoperative measurements and computer imaging are needed to determine how much vertical length is desired but it appears to be in the range of 5 to 7mms.