Chin Augmentation

Chin augmentation covers two distinct surgical routes, and the right one depends on your anatomy and what you are trying to achieve.

Chin implant (mentoplasty)

A solid silicone implant placed through a small incision under the chin or inside the lower lip. The implant sits on the bone and is held in place by the surrounding tissue. It adds projection and, depending on the shape selected, can also address vertical or lateral definition. The procedure runs between one and a half to two and a half hours under general anaesthesia.

Sliding genioplasty

Genioplasty repositions the chin bone itself — cut, moved, and fixed with small titanium plates. It is a more involved operation, but it gives the surgeon precise three-dimensional control: projection, height, and midline alignment in a single procedure. For patients whose chin needs to move in more than one plane, or whose bite relationship is already under review, genioplasty is often the more appropriate route.

At CFH, the approach is selected during the planning consultation, not at the operating table.

Chin augmentation is rarely planned in isolation. Projection in profile depends on the relationship between the chin, the lips, and the nose. If you are combining chin work with rhinoplasty — a common combination — the chin projection target is set as part of the rhinoplasty plan, not as a separate afterthought.

Your surgeon will review:

• Lateral and frontal photographs
• The naso-labial and mentocervical angles
• Your facial thirds proportion
• Whether a submentoplasty (to address soft tissue under the chin) would complement the result

The written plan you receive before any commitment describes the approach selected and the rationale for it.

Duration: One and a half to two and a half hours.

Anaesthesia: General anaesthesia at a JCI-accredited theatre.

Incision: Either a small external incision along the natural crease under the chin (virtually invisible once healed) or an internal incision along the lower gum line. Genioplasty is performed through the same intraoral approach in most cases.

Recovery hotel nights: Five nights is the standard stay.

Visible recovery: Ten days. Swelling and some stiffness around the lower jaw are normal in the first week. Most patients can eat soft foods from day two.

Full settlement: The final position and feel of the chin — particularly the soft tissue drape over an implant — settles over approximately nine months. At the one-month mark, the result is visible but not final.

At CFH, the same surgeon who reviews your photographs, signs your plan, and answers your questions before travel is the surgeon at the operating table — and the surgeon you speak to at the three-month and twelve-month video reviews.

This is not a secondary point. Chin augmentation requires precise intraoperative decisions: implant pocket depth, implant positioning relative to the mental nerve, and soft tissue tension over the implant. Those decisions are safer — and more consistent with the plan you agreed to — when the operating surgeon is the one who designed the plan.

Chin augmentation is frequently performed in combination with other face procedures at CFH. Common combinations include:

• Chin augmentation with rhinoplasty: The most common combination. The nose and chin are planned together so that the profile reads as a balanced whole rather than two separately-corrected features.
• Chin augmentation with submentoplasty: Where soft tissue under the chin also needs addressing, a submentoplasty (targeted liposuction and platysma tightening) is often sequenced in the same operating session.
• Chin augmentation with lower blepharoplasty or facelift: For patients addressing several areas of the face, the chin procedure is incorporated into the session plan.

Combined sessions are planned around genuine recovery logistics. Your surgeon will tell you which combinations are practical within a single anaesthetic and which are better separated.

Chin augmentation is appropriate for adults with a well-established facial skeleton whose chin lacks projection, height, or definition relative to the rest of the face. Typical presentations include:

• Chin retrusion visible in lateral profile (the chin sits behind a vertical line dropped from the lips)
• Disproportionate lower facial third
• A jawline that lacks definition when viewed from the front

It is not an appropriate procedure for patients who are still growing, patients with significant bite discrepancies that need orthognathic input, or patients seeking micro-adjustments that non-surgical options could address.

If implant-based augmentation has been performed elsewhere and the position or feel is not right, revision is possible. The planning approach is the same: photographs, assessment, written plan before any commitment.

Some honest context that clinic marketing rarely includes:

Swelling takes longer than most patients expect. The chin has significant soft tissue investment. At ten days you will look like the procedure happened. At three months you will have a strong sense of the result. At nine months the final position is confirmed. Planning your social calendar around the three-month mark rather than the two-week mark is sensible.

Implants are palpable. A chin implant can be felt if you press on the chin. This is normal. It does not mean it has moved. It is not visible to anyone who is not pressing.

The profile reads differently in photographs than in life. The change in chin projection affects how the whole lower face photographs. Some patients find the photograph reads more strongly than they expected. This is not a sizing error — it is the nature of the proportion shift.

Genioplasty recovery is longer. If your anatomy warrants genioplasty rather than an implant, recovery involves more jaw stiffness and a longer dietary adjustment. The result is more durable and more adjustable in three dimensions, but the first two weeks require more planning.

For patients travelling from the UK, Ireland, or further afield, the logistics are handled as part of the service:

• Before travel: Intake call in your language. Photographs uploaded from your phone. Surgeon signs a written plan within 48 hours. No fee to consult, no obligation to proceed.
• On arrival: Airport transfer to the recovery hotel. Pre-operative bloods and anaesthesia review at the hotel — no clinic shuttle needed.
• Surgery day: JCI-accredited theatre at BHT Clinic, Istanbul. The named surgeon operates. Your coordinator stays available throughout the day.
• Recovery stay: Five nights at the recovery hotel. The surgeon reviews you before you fly.
• After you leave: Video reviews at month three, six, and twelve. Your coordinator answers messages between reviews. If the surgeon needs to see something on camera, the call is arranged the same day.

CFH operates in eight languages — English, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, French, Albanian, Arabic, and Farsi — so the written plan and after-care instructions are in the language you read best.