Everyone knows the phrase…’beauty is skin deep but ugly goes to the bone’. While commonly said, this phrase is only partially correct. Beauty is also bone deep as the outward appearance of the face begins down at this foundational level. How the face looks at the outside has a lot to do with how it is shaped on the inside. Any forensic scientist can attest to it. Many have seen on TV shows how an unidentified corpse’s face is ‘rebuilt’ with clay layers on top of the skull and facial bones based on established soft tissue measurements. Like a roof on a house, the outer appearance of the face is highly influenced by the shape of the bone underneath it.
Treating facial bone problems has a long history in plastic surgery. Since World War I, when trench warfare created a large number of severe facial injuries (sticking your head up out of a trench was usually not a good idea), plastic surgeons have been rebuilding, rearranging, and enhancing facial bones. Today’s plastic surgeons pay particular attention in cosmetic surgery to how the skin, fat and muscle of the face redrapes over the bones, knowing full well its influence on the final shape. Whether it is a facelift, nose job,or making one’s face more masculine, being aware of and changing the shape of the bone can lead to a better balanced and more attractive face.
There are numerous well known, as well as less well known, plastic surgery procedures of the facial bones that are used to change the shape of the facial bones as well as the outward balance of the face. Common procedures such as chin, cheek, and jaw implants as well as less well known procedures of chin, cheek, and jaw angle osteotomies and paranasal and tear trough implants are all possibilities. How these fit together and which ones to use on any face can be both mathematically measured and computer imaged by your plastic surgeon to determine which one(s) are right for your goals. One should also not forget the importance of the nose and how rhinoplasty surgery makes a big facial difference. Rhinoplasty is often combined with many of these other facial sculpting procedures to make really significant facial changes.
Read about what these facial sculpting procedures are and how they work in my latest book, ‘Facial Sculpting – Plastic Surgery of the Facial Bones’ available at WordClay. This book is written in an easy to understand style that will not educate to determine if any of these procedures are for you but will prepare for any upcoming consultations with a plastic surgeon.