Your chin is the anchor for your entire face. A recessed chin can make a normal-sized nose appear too large, or make the upper jaw seem too large compared to the rest of the face. Your chin also defines your profile. Your chin defines your jawline and plays a huge role in your overall appearance. Even relatively minor changes in the size, shape, and contour of the chin can have a dramatic effect on your face and overall appearance.
A “WEAK” CHIN
A recessed or “weak” chin is simply a chin that does not protrude much beyond the lower jaw, if at all. Many people with a recessed chin are self-conscious about their appearance. Even the term used to describe a recessed chin—a weak chin—seems designed to hurt rather than describe. A strong chin, on the other hand, is a chin that protrudes beyond the lower jaw and gives definition to the lower jawline.
Of course, it makes little sense for one chin to be labelled “strong” and the other “weak.” The face is not somehow stronger with a prominent chin. Nevertheless, stronger chins tend to be more aesthetically pleasing than weaker chins, to a point. Ideally, the chin should provide symmetry, contour, and vertical balance to the face, while balancing the size of the nose in profile. In other words, there is a range of chin sizes and shapes that are right for each person’s face. Fortunately, a skilled facial plastic surgeon can “strengthen” a weak chin, and bring better proportion and balance to the entire face.
COULD YOUR CHIN BE STRONGER?
Some are unhappy with the chin they were born with, but many others never think twice about the shape or size of their chin. Over time, however, the muscles of the face weaken. The skin becomes loose and “jowly,” and fat pockets develop in the cheeks and neck. One consequence of aging most people do not realize is that the chin appears to lose definition. As other structures around the chin loosen and sag, the starts to disappear in the face. A chin that was once “strong” may become relatively weak as the skin of the face ages.
Facial plastic surgery offers a solution. An accomplished facial plastic surgeon can use tailored combination of fat transfers, dermal fillers, and/or a chin implant to give the chin additional definition and size. This relatively minor structural change can make a dramatic improvement in the overall appearance of the face. It enhances the jawline, which minimizes neck sagging and jowly cheeks. When chin procedures are combined with a facelift and certain other treatments, the effects can be even more impressive.
