Web Chat Chin: Improving your facial profile to improve your Facebook profile

Chin augmentation has seen a dramatic increase in the number being performed and the number of patients asking about it. Though chin augmentation has been a procedure that has been around for over 30 years, the recent increase in popularity is being related to people looking at their own profile more critically while spending time in front of the computer during web chat activities. With new technologies such as face to face live web chats, real time facial profiles are being displayed and observed by all computer and mobile phone users. The cameras on a computer or phone have a narrow field and do tend to narrow and constrict the face accentuating an already weak chin. When taking a self-portrait photo with a mobile device and/or in the mirror, the face is usually slightly turned to one side, which reveals the profile.
A stronger chin is an attractive feature in the male face, but even in the female face a fuller lower face with more definition has become more en vogue. With people looking at their profile in the computer more and the computer cameras highlighting facial profile deficiencies, the web chat chin has become a common reason to improve the looks of patients young and old through simple procedures such as chin augmentation and/or a neck lift.
Chin augmentation can be performed through multiple modalities with injections and implants being the most common types.
Chin augmentation with injections can be performed in the office under local anesthesia with minimal to no downtime. The injections can be either, calcium-based biostimulators like Radiesse® or collagen-based biostimulators like Sculptra®. To achieve a long lasting chin augmentation with these products, it may require multiple rounds of injections until the final chin profile is achieved. Fat injections have been applied in the lower face, which uses the body’s own fat and is placed deep along the jaw bone. Fat injections require a donor site or another operative site where fat is removed and it can be unpredictable in its longevity in the face.
A chin implant is a solid shaped implant of silicone or porous plastic, which requires a surgery to insert it on the jawbone. Chin implants are made in different shapes and sizes to really be able to individually give the amount of chin augmentation the patient wants. I usually place a chin implant through a small incision under the chin which most patients already have a natural crease. The operation can be performed in about 1 hour and usually patients can go home the same day. A chin implant can be combined with a rhinoplasty in order to improve facial harmony, as well as a neck lift to really improve chin and neck definition. A chin implant combined with a neck lift is a very powerful operation for the male facial profile, and can be applied to the weak, double chin.
Excess neck skin is not addressed with just a chin implant alone, as well chin, and neck liposuction has minimal to no effect on treating excess skin, therefore a neck and/or facelift would more appropriately treat these issues. Male neck skin excess can be treated with a very simple “in-office” procedure called a direct neck excision, which involves removing the central neck skin and reorienting the central neck scar with a zig-zag incision pattern. This direct neck excision is a very powerful and convenient procedure, but has a significant scar burden, which can be appropriate for the male neck skin and the male patient who would tolerate the scar, however not appropriate for the female neck. The female neck and the male with significant neck complaints should really be addressed with a standard neck-lift procedure, even in the 30 something year old female with a full neck that runs in the family. Neck liposuction can be added to these neck lift procedures to help improve the contour of the neck. Stand-alone neck liposuction should only be applied to a minority of patients who just have neck fullness, no associated with excess skin or underlying muscle laxity. Neck liposuction, chin augmentation, and a neck lift or facelift procedure can be all combined for an impressive change in the contour and profile of the lower face. These combination procedures will not change the way you look, they just make you look thinner, more sculpted and younger.
Simple chin augmentation can be performed to directly improve the chin profile to improve your web chat profile and hopefully change your Facebook profile.