Chin Reduction Surgery

Who does it?
Plastic Surgeon
Face Surgeon

AKA Genioplasty, Sliding Genioplasty, Orthognathic Surgery

What is it?
Just as a recessive chin can make your face look out of proportion, sadly so can a protruding one. Chin reduction surgery will reduce the size of your chin to bring it into line with the rest of your features and restore facial harmony.

Who is suitable?
You’ll need to undergo a consultation with a specialist surgeon to determine whether you are a suitable candidate – this is a surgical procedure and so all the usual risks and contraindications apply.

The problem could be a genuinely large chin bone, in which case genioplasty would be the ideal procedure, or it could be to do with the size and alignment of your jaw.

If this is the case, you would need to have a ‘sliding genioplasty’ or even orthognathic surgery, which would deal with any orthodontal problems as well.

What’s the treatment like?
If the problem is just to do with your chin, a genioplasty operation will be performed, to shave a small amount off the end of your chin bone and reduce its prominence. To do this, the surgeon will make an incision either inside the mouth or underneath the chin.

A sliding genioplasty involves the surgeon making a cut in the jaw bone (mandible) to remove the lowermost part and move it back into a better position, where it will be fixed in place using titanium screws. Again the incision will be made either inside the mouth or under the chin, but a larger incision will be necessary.

Orthognathic surgery will require a consultation with both a maxillofacial surgeon and an orthodontist, and produces a complete ‘jaw makeover’. This will only be necessary if the jaw itself is actually too large and is causing problems with your occlusion (bite).

The procedure would involve both a sliding genioplasty and orthodontic work, requiring you to wear braces for several months until your teeth are aligned in their new position.

What happens afterwards?
After a genioplasty or sliding genioplasty operation to reduce the size of your chin, you will have some bruising and swelling in the chin area for a few days and if the cuts were made inside the mouth you might be expected to restrict your diet to soft foods and liquids for about a week.

Any swelling should have disappeared within a week, however, and you should be able to resume your normal activities within one to two weeks. Any stitches will be removed after a week.

If you need orthognathic surgery, you will be expected to wear braces for several months after surgery, to help your skeleton to heal into its new position.

This can be off-putting for many patients, however patient satisfaction is very high from this procedure, because once the braces are off, your jaw position and bite are improved permanently.