Long, thin face and genioplasty.

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#1 Post by **Elspeth** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:47 am

I have a long face.

This is a problem for me. I've always struggled to accept that I am a thin faced gal. I don't have little cherub cheeks or a rounded, sweet chin like most girls I know. I'm the "noble" looking one, apparently.

My facial structure is a bit like... the length of Liv Tyler's face but without her full cheeks, and with the strong, prominent jaw and almost-underbite of Keira Knightley.

Its sort of an oval, but with a very pointed chin that I think is masculine. I think without the lengthy, pointed chin my facial structure would look more balanced, but I can't seem to find many pictures of reduction genioplasty online. Does anybody have any they'd like to share?

I haven't been told that I NEED orthognathic surgery and I sort of doubt that I will. My teeth aren't very bad - my thin upper arch has so far been fixed with a quad-helix, I have a bit of flaring of my front teeth, and an off-centre midline that seems to disappear the more my upper arch widens. I do grind my teeth in my sleep and my jaw pops quite a bit. I can chew perfectly fine, so functionally, I'm great. Its just that I LOOK sort of... underbitey. I think, because of my prominent chin. I have an appointment with a maxillo surgeon in January, but until then I'm just wondering...

Would a genioplasty significantly change how my thin face is perceived? Again, cause I can't find many before/afters of reduction genioplasty, its hard to tell. I can see that it works GREAT for people with tiny chins, but for people with larger ones... if I do need more significant orthognathic surgery, how might it improve my facial thinness/lengthiness?

I know these are questions I should ask the maxillo surgeon when I see him, but I thought I'd toss them out here anyway... pictures would be really great, if anyone has any!

#2 Post by **Graceful58** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 5:18 am

Hi Elspeth,

Welcome to Archwired!! I will be having the same exact surgery you're referring to, chin reduction or called Metoplasty. which permanently decreases the projection of the chin and balances the facial proportions. I will be having my lower jaw moved forward and once it's move forward my chin will become too prominent. I also have a long face, wearing bangs helps.

I have found a bit of info on this surgery but like you mentioned there's not a lot of info out there. I have my surgery on Dec 31st and will be posting pics and documenting my progress after surgery so you can follow my blog to see how my surgery has gone. I wish you all the best and if you have any questions don't hesitate to email me.

Merry Christmas!!

#3 Post by **Emaciated** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 9:30 am

I had what I considered a long face and what friends referred to as a Jay Leno chin. But I had my jaws moved as well as the genio, I imagine you're looking for photos of people who have just had the genio and no jaw movement. So you're welcome to browse some before and afters/x-rays etc. here but my case, or solution at least was much different then your's. I also had an actual underbite and severe chewing problems keep in mind.

Good luck to you.

#4 Post by **gatorseh** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 2:10 pm

I had a very long, thin face with sunken cheeks before having surgery. I had Le Fort and BSSO though so I'm not sure I can help you with just the genioplasty... the Le Fort pulled my upper jaw forward so I do have round cheeks now and the BSSO made the lower third of my face shorter which balanced out my face a little better. I still have a long face though!

#5 Post by **switchblades** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 8:33 pm

I posted about this earlier too, I have a prominent chin, but an overbite. So when my lower jaw is pulled forward, my chin will be very long and pointed. I'm going to speak to my ortho about reduction genio, because I need to have a suture put in the middle of my mandible anyway, to widen my lower jaw.

It's a lot less common, but you're not alone!

#6 Post by **Baileysrv** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:31 pm

Hi Elspeth!

I have a long face, too. I had both upper and lower jaw surgery done because my teeth actually didn't meet on the left side due to asymmetry. My surgeon planned to do a genio only if he thought it was needed after doing the upper and lower. As it turned out, he didn't think I needed it. At first, I was kind of disappointed because I really hope the genio would shorten my face. Nevertheless, as I got farther away from the surgery, I realized that by merely fixing my jaw alignment, my face looked a lot shorter. I have a picture from about 5-6 weeks post op that I'll post below.

Sorry I can't respond specifically as to whether a simple genio would help shorten your face, but I can say that oral surgery did help bring things into balance for me. My faced does appear longer now that I'm three months out. I think some of the shortness is the result of swelling. Still, it's an improvement. I'm still fighting some asymmetry in my jaw, though. (Grrrrr).

For a full face shot see:
http://i458.photobucket.com/albums/qq31 ... after1.jpg