Chin Talk

Oct 22, 2024

2 min read

1

THE CHIN

Our chins play a major role in framing our face and determining our profiles. Often overlooked as an area of importance, it has quickly become one of my top areas of assessment during consultation.

The Mentalis muscle, our chin muscle, is variable from person to person in size, shape, prominence and projection (or lack thereof). Skin quality, texture and appearance must not be overlooked. The mentalis muscle is a muscle of elevation. Meaning, when engaged, it lifts up and inward. This muscle shortens during muscle contraction. Sometimes the superficial fibers are overly tethered to the skins’ surface and cause excessive dimpling often called “chin-ulite”. An overactive chin muscle can present in multiple variations. It can give the appearance of a pensive peri-oral area, a “witchy” peri-oral area (think old lady in snow-white), or possibly a thick, meaty muscle, giving a golf ball like appearance and texture. Either way the chin appears shorter and higher than the rest of the jawline on profile. The crease above the chin can vary in depth as well.

This muscle can easily be treated with Neurotoxin Muscle Relaxing, medications such as Botox. The flattening, hollowing/shadows to either side of this muscle can be attributed most often to volume depletion and bone loss, both of which occur during the natural aging process.

YOUR OPTIONS

Do nothing
Relax the overactive mentalis muscle by injecting Botulinum Toxin Type A medications to relax the chin and surrounding tissues like the Depressor Anguli Oris (DAO)-corners of the mouth pulling down.
A great way to restore the volume loss is by adding one or both of the following FDA approved medications. Hylauronic Acid Dermal Fillers, dispersed gently and conservatively. OR use a BioStimulator such as SCULPTRA Aesthetic. SCULPTRA is injected in the same manner as filler however the result is not immediate. BioStimulators trigger your cells to start the collagen rebuilding process at the area of injection. So you actually end up growing back new collagen to replace the lost and damaged collagen.

Scheduling a consultation is the best way to remain informed. Hope to see you soon! ~Suz