How A Weak Chin Can Make the Nose Look Bigger

In my last blog post I discussed what goes into repairing a crooked nose deformity, using one of my patients as a case study. This patient also provides a great illustration of the concept of how chin projection affects the overall perceived size of the nose.



The preoperative profile photograph of our patient shown above shows how the patient has an over-projected nose with a dorsal hump. With rhinoplasty the patient would certainly have an improved appearance but would likely still have a disproportionately size nose. The photograph below is a digital simulation of the patient's appearance if he only had a rhinoplasty.



Certainly, his nose looks improved but there's still a sense that his nose is still too large for his face. The key to improving his result is to improve his chin projection. In this patient's case we elected to place a chin implant. The set of photos below show the patient's before photograph on the left and 1 year postoperative photo on the right.



You can see how chin implant placement has the benefit of making the patient's nose look more in balance with his face. This allows for more conservative nasal size reduction which helps to maintain a more natural and less operated on appearance. At the same time, chin augmentation surgery is able to create a stronger, more masculine jawline.

If you'd like to read more about chin augmentation check out my Chin Surgery information page here. You can see more before and after chin augmentation photos here.