"Unfixable" jowls - is there anything I can do? (Photo)

Question

I have tried everything from RF microneedling to Everesse to Botox to smooth out the sides of my mouth. The "lumps" are there resting and when animating. I have been told by three plastic surgeons that I'm not a candidate for a facelift because I do not have enough overall laxity. When I pull back around my mouth, these go away, but apparently overall there's not enough skin. I have also been told I'm not a candidate for filler here because it will look strange when I animate. This really bothers me and I'm finding it hard to be believe there's zero remedy.

Lucian Ion, FRCS · Answer

Thank you for your inquiry and sharing your photograph

As you have already appreciated, this problem does not necessarily have a simple answer. You are generating more of these lines through the activity of the muscles around the mouth, and they probably don't show so much when you are relaxed.

To understand more clearly whether a face lift intervention would have a beneficial impact in your case, I suggest that you examine your appearance when you lie down completely flat and using a mirror rather than a mobile phone. It is important to appreciate that even with the facelift surgery, some of the dynamic lines do not disappear.

The appearance correlates relatively well with the impact of a facelift intervention and probably more so with the impact of a Deep Plane Facelift procedure. If you feel that it is the degree of change that you wish to achieve, I suggest that you discuss your concerns with a surgeon that has a special interest in Deep Plane Facelift surgery.

Albert Yang, MD · Answer

Hey, the lumps near your mouth is the modiolus. This is a confluence of muscles that attaches to control the shape of the mouth. You may notice it more when your making different shapes of your mouth because muscles are active. 
You can consider fat grafting around it to camaflouge it. I know some surgeons will remove some muscles in these areas to flatten it out but I've never done one so can't speak to it.

"Unfixable" jowls - is there anything I can do? (Photo)

Answers (2)

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