For facial masculinization, a custom jawline implant designed in the “Eppley style” typically focuses on creating a stronger, wider, and more angular lower face while maintaining proportional harmony with the chin and cheekbones.
Key design principles include:
1. Wraparound Jawline Design
Rather than separate angle implants and a chin implant, the design is usually a single custom wraparound implant that extends:
- Across the chin
- Along the inferior mandibular border
- Into both mandibular angles
This creates a continuous masculine jawline without visible transitions.
Think of it as expanding the entire inferolateral mandibular border, width, lengths or combinations thereof, to create a new jaw shape as this is the actual part of the lower jaw you see externally..
2. Vertical Lengthening
Some male jaws are not just wider—they also need to be longer
The implant can:
- Increase lower facial height
- Lower the mandibular border
- smooth out the inferior border
- Create a squarer facial shape
Vertical augmentation for those patients that need it often produces a more dramatic masculinization effect than width alone because of the stronger border augmentation effect.
3. Gonial Angle Enhancement
The posterior jaw angles are commonly:
- Can be widened
- Can be inferiorly lengthened
- A more defined gonial angle can be created.
This is one of the strongest visual markers of a masculine jaw but also one of he hardest to get dimensionally correct for the patient’s aesthetic goals.
4. Square Chin Development
The chin portion may include:
- Increased width
- Greater projection
- Inferior lengthening
The goal is usually a square chin that blends naturally into the jaw body.
Often it is called broad chin which makes one think that a square chin comes from being wider or more broad…but this is not accurate.
A square chin comes from being more square at the ‘corners’ not being wider.
5. Customized Asymmetry Correction
A custom implant can compensate for:
- Mandibular asymmetry
- Chin deviation
- Unequal gonial angles
- Previous surgery or congenital deficiencies
Each side can be designed independently.
6. Relationship to Facial Masculinization Goals
The amount of augmentation depends on the desired endpoint:
Subtle Masculinization
- 3–5 mm jaw body widening
- Moderate chin widening
- Limited angle enhancement
Moderate Masculinization
- 5–8 mm jaw body widening
- Stronger angle flare
- Increased vertical height
Maximal Masculinization
- 8–15+ mm augmentation
- Significant vertical drop
- Highly angular jawline architecture
Common Design Workflow
- High-resolution facial CT scan.
- Virtual surgical planning.
- 3D implant design based on:
- Existing bone anatomy
- Occlusion
- Soft-tissue thickness
- Desired aesthetic endpoint
- Patient review of renderings.
- Manufacture in solid silicone or porous polyethylene depending on the case.
The hallmark of the Eppley approach is generally the emphasis on three-dimensional jawline transformation (width, projection, and vertical length) rather than simply making the jaw wider. This tends to produce a more natural and powerful masculine result than traditional off-the-shelf angle implants.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Plastic Surgeon