Some people are born with more prominent chins.  In the case of Jay Leno, it is a distinguishing characteristic and enhances his appearance.  For most women, however a prominent chin can be a very undesirable trait.  For those women, and men, a chin reduction procedure (chin cosmetic surgery, chin reshaping, chin shaping, chin plastic surgery) can be essentially a life changing thing.  Chin reduction surgery is actually very safe to do.  A small incision can be made under the chin and the chin is exposed.  With different instruments, you can shape the bone down to a much more pleasing contour.  The procedure can be done as an outpatient and takes about a couple of hours or so.  It can be done under oral sedation, iv sedation, totally asleep as with general anesthesia or with just local sedation for the really brave.  This would all depend on your comfort level and your desires.  Here is a link to watch a video(s) on this procedure where you can see a live demonstration.

Thanks for reading, Dr Young

Dr Young specializes in Facial Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery and is located in Bellevue near Seattle, Washington

Chin dimpling is thought to be caused by a lack of soft tissue in the middle of the chin.  The soft tissue can be muscle (mentalis), fat, etc.  What also contributes is the bony structure.  When the bone forms two mounds on each side of the midline, a cleft can appear. Chin reduction surgery (chin cosmetic surgery, chin plastic surgery, chin shaping, chin reshaping, chin enhancement surgery) ,is one element of removing the cleft by decreasing the mounds of bone that can be contributing to the cleft.  If the soft tissue causes the cleft to persist, the surgeon may need to fill the cleft in with soft tissue brought in from somewhere else.  This tissue can come from fat, muscle, etc or even manufactured tissue. Here is a video on chin reduction for you to see.

Thanks for reading, Dr Young

Dr Young specializes in Facial Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery and is located in Bellevue near Seattle, Washington

Chin dimple removal can be done. The origin of this anatomical variant is due to lack of the mentalis muscle crossing over and leaving a dip.  Some others believe that the dimple is due to other soft tissue deficits.  Whatever the orgin, one may need to elevate the area and fill it in with fat or some other filler.  Because the skin is usually tacked and attached down to the deeper structures, some surgical lifting is necessary.  After lifting, you will then need to place some tissue there to keep it elevated and not associated with the skin again.  This is where grafts can work and there are many options for that.  Fillers are less efficacious in my experience. Chin implants can also serve to make those dimples less apparent as well but may change the way your chin looks in a significant way.

Thanks for reading, Dr Young

Dr Young specializes in Facial Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery and is located in Bellevue near Seattle, Washington

The cost of a Chin Implant Reshaping (chin augmentation / chin enhancement / chin plastic surgery / chin cosmetic surgery / chin job / chin implant / chin facial implant) varies depending on the surgeons fee, anesthesia costs, after care, and the cost of the implant.  In total you will be looking at between 4-6 thousand dollars.  The implant itself costs from 200-400 dollars. The surgeons fee between 3-4 thousand dollars. Anesthesia fees can be anywhere from 500-3000 dollars.  Sometimes you get what you pay for. I wouldn’t do price shopping to find the best deal.  You can get an implant for the chin for 1-2k in some third world country but then you have to pay someone else another 4-6k to fix it or more.  I have taken care of many people who have gone out of the country for less expensive surgery only to come back to me to have it redone.  When you go out of the country, the surgeons there have less incentive to take care of you.  You did in fact go there for the price and not the surgeons skill so it really doesn’t matter to them if they do a good job because they are getting you to come based on price.  Also, with you in another country their follow up for you is a lot less and they don’t have to worry about you coming back every day or week to see you and take care of you.

I hope that helps!

Thanks for reading, Dr Young

Dr Young specializes in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and is located in Bellevue near Seattle, Washington

This was a question I answered for someone recently:

It all depends on your bite.

Edward Angle was the first to classify malocclusion. He based his classifications on the relative position of the maxillary first molar. The mesiobuccal cusp of the upper first molar should rest on the mesiobuccal groove of the mandibular first molar.

* Class I: Here the molar relationship of the occlusion is normal or as described for the maxillary first molar, but the other teeth have problems like spacing, crowding, over or under eruption, etc.
* Class II: (retrognathism, “overbite”) In this situation, the upper molars are placed not in the mesiobuccal groove but anteriorly to it. Usually the mesiobuccal cusp rests in between the first mandibular molars and second premolars. There are two subtypes:
o Class II Division 1: The molar relationships are like that of Class II and the anterior teeth are protruded.
o Class II Division 2: The molar relationships are class II but the central are retroclined and the lateral teeth are seen overlapping the centrals.
* Class III: (prognathism, “underbite” or “negative overjet”) is when the lower front teeth are more prominent than the upper front teeth. In this case the patient has very often a large mandible or a short maxillary bone.

If you have malocclusion, orthognathic surgery (jaw surgery / oral maxillofacial surgery) could improve your chin position especially if you have a class 2 occlusion where the top jaw is more anterior than the bottom. Correcting this can project your chin forward.  If you have a Class one occlusion, and your chin is still posteriorly situated you have what is called retrogenia, or microgenia and a chin implant could improve the appearance of your chin.  Sometimes correcting a malocclusion can still leave you with a small chin and an implant may still be needed. Genioplasty is the actual movement of the bone in a forward and inferior direction to increase the chin size vertically and horizontally.  Chin implants (or chin augmentation, chin enhancement , facial implants, genioplasty, sliding genioplasty, chin surgery, chin plastic surgery, chin cosmetic surgery) can only increase the vertical dimension approximately 2mm anymore usually has traditionally required a genioplasty.  Although there are custom implants that can give you more vertical height of your chin.  Genioplasty is a significant surgery and many people feel it is more work than worth the recovery.  Chin implant recovery is much less than a genioplasty in most hands.  You should come in to discuss this with someone qualified to consult you about this.

Thanks for reading, Dr Young

Dr Young specializes in Facial Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery and is located in Bellevue near Seattle, Washington