There are generally six basic face shapes: oval, round, square, heart, diamond, and oblong. You may have become accustomed to makeup products or haircuts that suit your facial shape; however, over time, the shape of your face can change. You may no longer recognize yourself, and the features that you once adored are no longer as prominent as they used to be. Age-related changes to the shape of your face arise due to sagging skin and a redistribution of tissues over time. These problems may be corrected to restore the look you’ve always known and loved with nonsurgical and surgical techniques that tighten skin and reposition saggy tissues; however, treatments like facelifts or browlifts may not address the actual problem among all patients.
Benefit from diverse experience
For instance, Dr. Edmund Kwan’s many Asian patients have benefited from facial bone reduction in Queens NY. These patients may have spent years trying to hide an overly wide face or bulky jawline behind their hair or fashions. They’ve never liked the angular look of their faces, and changes to their skin as they age can only make an already square-shaped face appear even more pronounced. Of course, patients of all ethnic backgrounds may be better candidates for bone reduction procedures than for facelifts. But, in general, there are differences in bone structure among patients of Asian background versus Dr. Kwan’s Caucasian patients. The former group tends to have wider cheekbones than Caucasian patients when the cheeks are viewed from a lateral angle and profiles may look “flat,” whereas the latter group tends to have less prominent cheeks and more prominent profiles.
Real Patients, Real Results Before and After Done By Dr. Kwan
The same is true of the lower face; Asian patients generally have more defined and prominent mandible or jaw contours than their Caucasian counterparts. Since the features differ, the corresponding treatments also differ. It’s not unusual to have Caucasian patients who want to augment or boost the mid-face or cheeks with dermal fillers or implants. Asians may desire the opposite. This is when the bone may be reduced and repositioned artfully by Dr. Kwan, a board-certified plastic surgeon. It can’t be said too often – the above are generalizations.
No matter your area of concern or how noninvasive or invasive the treatment, all procedures start with a complimentary consultation at Dr. Kwan’s Queens-area office in Flushing, or his offices in Manhattan or Fort Lee, NJ. Your facial features will be closely evaluated, and you’ll chat with the doctor about what you’d like to change and your ultimate goals for treatment.
Any part of the face that has bone may be safely reduced (or, likewise, augmented) at Dr. Kwan’s AAAASF certified ambulatory surgical facility.
- Forehead– Many of our female patients may desire a more “feminine” or softer-looking forehead. This look can be achieved by accessing the bone through carefully-placed incisions at the hairline. Due to the positioning of these incisions, your hair grows right through them, so they can mask any lines or scars. Skin falls back into place naturally and the resulting look is more sloped or curved, featuring less prominent eyebrow ridges. Reduction of the forehead bone can also be combined with a brow lift, if saggy skin and fat are an issue.
- Cheeks – There are many options to reduce the zygomatic arch and surrounding areas. Bone may be filed down through a less-invasive intraoral incision in the mouth. Bone may also be reduced and repositioned naturally without the need for more invasive prosthetic devices such as wires or plates.
- Jaw – The outer layer of bone may be surgically removed to create a narrower appearance, while prominent parts of the jawbone can be shaved or burred off to reduce its size and width. During your consultation, the doctor may find an overworked masseter muscle is also to blame. The muscle may be removed while still retaining normal function. Some patients also benefit from Botox, a temporary way to relax muscles in the lower jaw that have become bulky due to chronic bruxism or tooth-grinding or even something as seemingly innocuous as excessive gum-chewing.
- Chin – If your chin looks too big for the rest of your face or projects too much, it can be reshaped by surgically reducing the bone (mentoplasty). Sometimes, these adjustments go together with modification to the jaw itself to further improve bite and chewing.
As craniofacial procedures, bone reduction surgery is often complex and should be trusted to a skilled surgeon like Dr. Kwan. Your surgeon at Edmund Kwan, MD also has extensive experience with reconstructive surgery, so your appearance and healthy function is in good hands.
