Excess Fat on Jowl Line

Dear Dr Yang,

What would you do for someone who has a very slight excess of fat on the jowl area of the jaw line? It doesn’t really hang down – just bulges a little and distorts the clean line of the jaw, making the bottom of the face look bulky.

Thanks!
foxinsox

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Hi foxinsox,

It depends on the patient’s anatomy, age, medical history, and patient goals. It may range from recommending nothing, to possibly jowl liposuction at the same time as a face and necklift for an older patient with very fatty jowls which will remain significantly large with a facelift alone, to possibly a filler such as Radiesse along the “pre-jowl sulcus” which is an indentation between the chin and the “jowl” which makes takes away the clean line you are referring to, and can make some people appear to have a “pointy chin” or appear box, because of the separation of the chin to the jawline, instead of a smooth continuous line from the chin to the angle of the jaw. For these patients with a deficiency of bone or tissue in this pre-jowl sulcus, there are chin implants which can augment the prejowl indentation along with a regular chin implant or a specific pre-jowl implant which is flat in the middle to not augment the chin and two wings which smooth out the jawline.

The one issue last issue I want to address is an isolated prejowl liposuction. If a very small amount is done, there shouldn’t be much problems with ridging and indentations, but the chance of appearing to have minimal to no improvement rises. If a more aggressive jowl liposuction is done, the chance for fat reduction increases, but the risk of ridging and indention also increases accordingly.

I hope this general answer helps.

Best,

Dr. Yang