Plastic surgery can alter the look of your forehead, eyes, cheeks, nose, mouth and chin. But what if you just don’t like the basic shape of your face?
As the Sydney Morning Herald and other publications reported last week, you can now change the very foundation of your face with facial shaping surgery. “Think your jaw is too square?” asks the Australian publication. Plastic surgery to address the issue is now being offered in the U.S., China and Korea (SMH 1).
Dr. Jeffrey Spiegel, interviewed for the Sydney Morning Herald, is the Chief of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Boston University School of Medicine. He offers an entire menu of procedures beyond reshaping the jaw. He terms this area Facial Feminization Surgery, or FFS, and he can put together a custom feminization package for you, or you can choose procedures a la carte (Spiegel 1).
Patients may elect the operation most of the recent articles have focused on: mandible contouring. In this procedure, Dr. Spiegel says he can pare down the square corners at the back of your jaw, taper a chin for a more delicate and refined look, or both. The process may involve shaving or burring the bones and trimming muscles as required, all through incisions inside the mouth (Spiegel 1).
Other options include changing the appearance of your forehead. The plastic surgeon can trim and reshape the bone structure of your forehead and around your eyes to reduce the heavy bone structure associated with a more masculine appearance. He can add a brow lift and scalp repositioning as needed (Spiegel 1).
Other procedures patients can choose include tracheal shaving (or Adam’s apple reduction) and the more standard facelift, eyelid lift and so on.
Facial shaping through plastic surgery is not new, but until recently, almost everyone offered augmentation procedures like cheek and chin augmentation with implants, fat injections or dermal fillers (ASAPS 1). Facial shaping or feminization achieved through trimming existing structures is a newer option. Undoubtedly coming soon to a plastic surgery practice near you!
Sydney Morning Herald. Face too square? There’s surgery for that. SHM Executive Style. July 22, 2011. Web. July 26, 2011.
http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/style/face-too-square-theres-surgery-for-that-20110722-1hrur.html
Spiegel, Jeffrey. FFS Surgery. drspiegel.com. Web. July 26, 2011.
http://www.drspiegel.com/facial-feminization-ffs/
ASAPS. Cosmetic Surgery National Data Bank Statistics Twenty 10. The Mark of Distinction in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Web. July 26, 2011.
http://www.surgery.org/sites/default/files/Stats2010_1.pdf
Reviewed July 27, 2011
by Michele Blacksberg R.N.
Edited by Shannon Koehle