Which would be best for me, a chin implant or sliding genioplasty? (photos)

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.

With your very severe horizontal chin retrusion, you need to do a sliding genioplasty to create an initial chin foundation. Even with a sliding genioplasty you will not have ideal chin projection but it will be better. A sliding genioplasty can also prevent any actual vertical chin lengthening although any amount of chin augmentation can make it look a bit longer when the chin is as short as yours is.

A sliding genioplasty is usually performed by an oral surgeon under general anesthesia in a hospital setting with an overnight stay, and is much more invasive.  This procedure is usually performed  when the teeth are significantly out of alignment.  A chin implant  is placed under local anesthesia as an outpatient procedure which takes approximately 30 minutes and is much less invasive.  For many before and after examples of chin implants, please see the link and the video below

 Hi, 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 extremely weak as are the mandibular angles.  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".  
 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.  
 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. 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.
 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.
*The added areas of dissection with the intra oral approach allows upward migration of the implant as well as an increased risk of nerve injury.  Damage to a sensory nerve will create numbness and or an ache type discomfort while injuring the motor nerve will result in an inability to "lower" the corner of the mouth and lower lip.  
 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.  The EAC in a size small is the most common implants that I use in women ( size medium in men ).  Proper placement and the appropriate approach (placing the incision under the chin and not inside the mouth) are also key to obtaining the best aesthetic result.
 Next, the issue of sharpening or creating a more defined jaw line.  Precise placement of a dermal filler can augment the jaw line without mascuclinizing the face.Hope this helps.

You have a 'small lower jaw' and a 'high angle' growth pattern whereby the jawline is more 'steep' from the angle to the chin area. Ideally, you would consider proper orthodontics/jaw surgery along with a sliding genioplasty. However, one can mask a certain amount of the profile with a sliding genioplasty. Since this growth pattern does not allow the lips to touch naturally; a chin implant is a poor choice since the muscle contraction of the chin muscles will 'force' the implant backwards in to the underlying bone and cause more bone resorption; never mind the fact an implant won't alter the height properly. Talk to a cosmetic Maxillofacial surgeon