Can Protruding Mouth and a Recessed Chin Be Corrected with Facial Contouring Surgery?

Hello. I’m Dr. Jo Hyun-woo of Injeung Plastic Surgery.

Today, I’d like to talk about protruding mouth correction and recessed chin correction surgery.



First, a recessed chin appears when the tip of the lower jaw is positioned behind the upper jawbone. When the lower jaw is set back, it often comes with symptoms of a protruding mouth, where the mouth appears relatively prominent.

Among most patients who come in for consultation about protruding mouth concerns, many see good results with chin advancement surgery.

However, when the protrusion is very noticeable, or when the amount of forward movement at the chin tip becomes excessive, fundamental orthodontic treatment involving tooth extraction or orthognathic surgery should be considered.



Also, many people are interested in chin implants or chin fillers instead of chin advancement surgery.

I previously wrote a column related to recessed chin correction surgery, so if you’d like more details, please refer to the link below.





If you look at the photo above, from the side view of the face, the nose tip and chin tip positions and sizes can make the mouth appear relatively recessed or protruding.

At this time, the most commonly used reference line is the “E-line” (Esthetic line).

In that sense, chin advancement surgery can help improve a facial shape that looks like a protruding mouth.



Regarding this, I’ll first show you photos of an actual patient and then explain.^^





This is the preoperative photo of a patient who underwent correction for protruding mouth and recessed chin.

If you look at the side photo, when a straight line is drawn from the nose tip to the chin tip, the patient’s lips make a lot of contact with it.

In other words, the patient had a protruding mouth, a short philtrum, and a recessed chin together, and at the time of the visit was even considering “double jaw surgery.”





Looking at the patient’s CT scan, you can see that the upper part of the philtrum is also prominent.

We advanced the chin tip by an appropriate amount to match the changes in the lips, and because the patient also wanted the width of the chin tip reduced, we performed surgery to balance the face through “chin advancement surgery” and “long curved resection.”





(Left) Before surgery (Right) After surgery

However, chin surgery does not solve all cases of protruding mouth. That is definitely not the case.

A precise diagnosis of the protruding mouth condition must come first, and it should be clearly explained which parts can be improved with chin advancement surgery and which parts will not change.





This photo was taken during a follow-up check six months after surgery.

This patient also underwent cheekbone surgery, but if we focus only on the lower jaw, you can see that after the protruding mouth and recessed chin surgery, the chin was advanced and the balance of the lower jaw was adjusted, significantly reducing the protruding-mouth impression.





The most important thing in all facial contouring surgeries, including protruding-mouth correction and recessed chin surgery, is “proportion.”

Because the face has ideal proportions, it is not true that bigger eyes, a higher nose, and a sharper chin automatically make someone look prettier.





Chin surgery performed together with protruding-mouth surgery is an important step in completing the mouth area, and different surgical plans are made depending on the degree of protrusion.

If the protrusion is severe, double jaw surgery may be performed together, and if there is a recessed chin as well, additional methods such as chin advancement surgery and chin lengthening can be performed to improve the face into one with balanced proportions.



Thank you.