Question: What is the best kind of chin implant to have?
Answer:
This is a very good question. There are 4 considerations in choosing a chin implant – type, size, shape and material.
- Type – you should have an extended chin implant, not an onlay. Let me explain why. The original chin implants were placed directly over the chin prominence. These are on-lay implants, they just sit under the prominent soft tissue of the chin. Experience has taught us that these don’t solve the problem well. Chin implants need to go over the full length of the front part of the jaw bone – the lack of bone thickness here is what causes a small chin.
- Size of implant – as a general rule, women should have small implants, men large ones. What if you are a woman, and you aren’t sure if a medium or a small implant is better? Have the small one. Women have delicate faces and too large an implant can look heavy or even masculine. But let us say you are a man and you can’t decide between a large and an extra large implant? Assuming it will fit your face, choose the extra-large. Most men want to look very different from the look women have in mind – it is masculine to have a large, assertive, dominant chin. These rules don’t apply to everyone, but they are a helpful guide.
- What kind of shape? Chin implants have different shapes for different looks. Some have squared chins, some curved. That is a personal decision, but your surgeon will guide you.
- Finally – material. There are two kinds of chin implant material – those to which your body doesn’t attach and those to which it does. In the past, many surgeons used materials to which the body attached, a common one being Medpor. But wait!! People’s faces and preferences change with time – what if you don’t like your Medpor implant? It is difficult to remove. So the trend is moving away from attaching implants. Today the preferred implant is made of a soft, solid silicone, tradename Silastic. They can be held in place with a suture – or a tiny screw. There is no need for the body to attach to the implant. This makes changing an implant easy – if you ever need it done.
Chin implants have truly gone from good enough to excellent.
Watch in this video as Dr. Morgan explains the different types of chin implants in detail.