Soft tissue genioplasty. New modality of chin surgery utilizing mentalis muscle only

OBJECTIVES: To introduce a unique newly modified non-invasive surgical technique of genioplasty, where the mentalis muscle is advanced surgically for some selected indicated patients.

METHODS: This technique was carried out at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. From January 2009 to December 2011, 20 medically fit patients with acceptable facial profile, and age range from 18-25 years were selected as candidates for chin advancement, approximately 3-5 mm based on their lateral cephalometric tracings followed by mentalis muscle tightening.

RESULT: In all patients, soft tissue analysis of the lower lip and chin in lateral cephalogram were increased in horizontal and vertical dimensions demonstrating a good post-operative improvement and patient satisfaction within one-year follow up.

CONCLUSIONS: Soft tissue genioplasty provides superior versatility in surgical alteration of the chin morphology, mostly in horizontal dimension, utilizing mentalis muscle only without any hardwares. It is a time saving procedure obtained under local anesthesia. It preserves mentalis muscle attachment without dissection of the mentalis nerve.