Should I get a necklift and chin implant or will just a necklift fix my double chin?
Would the neck lift fix my double chin or would you also recommend a chin implant?
Would I be ok with just a necklift?
(Looking to get rid of my double chin completely and have a more defined jaw line).
Thank you for your question!
You submitted a single photo with a side view and your question is should you get a chin
implant or a necklift with a chin implant with the ultimate goal of having a more defined
jawline.
Well, I think that when you ask a question like this, you probably are not aware of other
options that are also possible for you to help you with your desire for a better neck
definition.
Although you haven’t stated specifically your age, it looks from the photo that you
are relatively young and the questions we ask when we do an evaluation to ourselves
and to our patient have to do with a lot with the decision-making process of what procedure
to choose.
I’m a cosmetic oculofacial plastic surgeon practicing in Manhattan and Long Island for
over 20 years.
We do a lot of facelifts, neck lifts and neck liposuctions and facial implant including
chin implants and submalar cheek implants.
First we speak to someone who wants better neck definition, we first have to decide about
the age and skin quality.
Why is that?
The term neck lift is typically interpreted by a surgeon where an incision is made slightly
in front the ear and mostly behind the ear to lift excess and redundant skin, sagging
skin and to also deal with platysmal bands.
That means that the muscle that is underneath the skin, where you get these little bands
or contributes to the sagging with facial aging.
This is a procedure we reserve for that type of situation.
So we would first evaluate and see do you have extra skin or is this anatomy of you
side view more a function of other anatomic issues specifically there’s a bone called
the hyoid bone.
The hyoid bone is what defines the neck angle.
For some people, it’s low and forward and other people, it’s high and back and there’s
also in the middle.
So in determining whether or not a lift will do the job or what is your potential, the
hyoid bone is a very important anatomic feature to determine that.
Because you have a very low hyoid bone or it’s very forward, then you have a very
short distance between the bone and the chin which means, when you pull up the skin, you’re
not going to get that much of a differentiation.
This is very important for people who have facial aging because there is also kind of
a downward decent of migration of the hyoid bone.
So in consultation, we typically lift the skin to show the patient what is there maximal
potential benefit because they often look at friends who have facelifts and they want
to have the same result.
But if their anatomy doesn’t allow for it, we have to communicate that.
The choice of a chin implant, in other words, to add projection to the chin is also a not
straightforward and this has to do with why the chin is back.
Is it because it is relatively short or is it due to the position of the mandible or
the jawbone relative to the upper jawbone, the mandible and the maxilla?
So a lot of times, people who have the perception of a weak chin, it’s because their teeth
are relatively misaligned.
It’s basically by doing a simple examination in the mouth, you can see if someone has relative
overbite and the chin is posterior.
If that’s the case, if they were to get a chin implant, they would actually get deepening
of an area called the labial mental crease which is crease between the lip and the chin
and that would cause it to look deeper and may not look very flattering.
Now in some people, it can be adjusted and you can position the chin implant and choose
a size that would fit that face if they’re not interested in doing some kind of oral-maxilla
type of procedure.
But you actually have to understand that.
Now, in a situation like yours, where you might be a candidate for a chin implant and
you may also want to consider neck liposuction.
Now this procedure basically reduces fat along the under part of the jawline as well as below
the chin if there’s extra fat below the chin.
But we also have to be conscious of not taking too much away.
A lot of times, plastic surgeons are very aggressive about removing fat and we have
had patients who actually have to get fat transfer to restore or we did something to
rehabilitate the skin because the thin layer of fat under the skin actually makes skin
look youthful.
When you look a younger person, that person looks young because of volume and so if you
take away that fat too aggressively, it can actually make them look older.
Now, the last issue of course is your physical weight.
Are you overweight?
If a younger person is well over 10 pounds their ideal body weight, then a lot of times,
simple weight loss can actually help define the jawline and the neck but it’s important
to at least entertain that before considering a more invasive procedure.
That being said, you ultimately need to have a physical examination with a qualified experienced
cosmetic surgeon.
The photo is helpful and certainly it triggers in my mind certain question to ask but to
make a recommendation that is definitive would require an examination.
Remember, we talked about anatomic features such as the position of the hyoid bone, physical
weight, the position of your mandible relative to the maxilla in terms of your bite, you
have an under bite or a normal bite.
So all of those things are a factor before making this decision.
So I recommend that you meet with qualified experienced cosmetic surgeons and see where
you feel comfortable and explore whatever those options are and you probably would want
to get more than one opinion.
And in the meantime, I wish you the best of luck, I hope that was helpful and thank you
for your question!