Chin Implant with Buccal Fat Removal Before After

Patient Overview

• Patient: Aicha

• Age: 29 years old

• Gender: Female

• Procedures: Buccal fat removal (cheek reduction), silicone chin implant (submental approach)

• After photos taken at: 3 months post-surgery

• Location: Istanbul, Turkey

Subtract from the Cheeks, Add to the Chin

Facial proportion is a balance equation. When the cheeks are too full and the chin is too recessed, the imbalance compounds itself — the round cheeks make the chin look weaker, and the weak chin makes the cheeks look rounder. Addressing only one side of this equation produces an incomplete correction. Slimming the cheeks without augmenting the chin leaves the lower face still undefined. Projecting the chin without reducing the cheeks leaves the mid-face still round. The solution is to move in both directions simultaneously — subtract where there is excess, add where there is deficit.

Aicha, a twenty-nine-year-old patient of Dr. Cem Berkay Sinaci, presented with both components of this imbalance. Dr. Sinaci, a European board-certified plastic surgeon (FEBOPRAS) and member of ISAPS and ASPS, designed a plan that combined buccal fat removal to slim her cheeks with a silicone chin implant to project her chin — two opposing interventions that together produce a single, unified transformation of her facial profile.

What a Recessed Chin Does to Facial Harmony

A chin that lacks adequate forward projection affects the perception of the entire face, not just the lower third. The profile appears imbalanced — the nose seems larger because the chin does not counterbalance it. The jawline appears undefined because the mandibular border lacks the anterior anchor point that a projected chin provides. The neck looks shorter and less defined because the cervicomental angle — the transition from jaw to neck — is blunted without adequate chin structure to create a sharp junction.

From the front view, a weak chin disrupts the facial taper. The ideal facial contour narrows progressively from the cheekbones through the jawline to a defined chin point. When the chin is recessed, this taper terminates abruptly, and the lower face appears truncated rather than elegantly tapered. Combined with buccal fat fullness in the cheeks, the face reads as wide above and flat below — the opposite of the sculpted V-shape contour that Aicha wanted.

Chin augmentation corrects all of these perceptual distortions simultaneously. Adding projection to the chin balances the nose in profile, anchors the jawline from the front, sharpens the neck angle, and completes the facial taper that buccal fat removal initiates at the cheekbone level.

Why Silicone Chin Implants

Several methods exist for chin augmentation — injectable fillers, fat grafting, sliding genioplasty (bone surgery), and alloplastic implants. Dr. Sinaci prefers silicone chin implants for most augmentation cases, and the reasons are both practical and aesthetic.

Silicone is biocompatible, meaning the body tolerates it without significant inflammatory reaction. It is available in a wide range of shapes and sizes, allowing the surgeon to select the precise dimensions that match each patient's anatomy and aesthetic goal. It is firm enough to maintain its shape permanently against the forces of overlying soft tissue, yet flexible enough to feel natural when the chin is touched. And critically, it is removable — if the patient ever wanted the implant adjusted or removed in the future, the procedure is straightforward.

Compared to fillers, a silicone chin implant provides permanent augmentation without repeat appointments or gradual dissolution. Compared to sliding genioplasty, it achieves projection without cutting and repositioning the chin bone — a far less invasive approach with faster recovery. Compared to fat grafting, it provides predictable, stable projection without the variable reabsorption rates that fat transfer to the chin can produce.

For Aicha's degree of chin recession, a silicone implant provided the ideal combination of predictability, permanence, and proportional accuracy.

The Submental Incision Approach

Dr. Sinaci places chin implants through a small incision beneath the chin — the submental approach. This incision, typically fifteen to twenty millimetres in length, sits in the natural shadow beneath the chin point where it becomes virtually invisible once healed.

Through this access, a precise pocket is created directly over the chin bone, beneath the mentalis muscle. The silicone implant is positioned within this pocket, seated against the bone surface where it augments the chin projection without displacing the overlying soft tissue unnaturally. The pocket dimensions are calibrated to the implant size — snug enough to prevent migration, but not so tight that the implant is compressed or distorted.

The submental approach offers several advantages. The surgeon has direct visualisation of the bone surface and can position the implant with millimetre accuracy. The incision heals in a concealed location. And the same submental area provides convenient access if the implant ever requires adjustment in the future.

The alternative — an intraoral approach through an incision inside the lower lip — avoids an external scar entirely but carries a slightly higher infection risk due to the oral bacterial environment and provides less direct visualisation of the implant pocket. Dr. Sinaci's preference for the submental route reflects a prioritisation of implant positioning accuracy and lower complication risk, with the trade-off of a tiny external scar that fades to near-invisibility.

The Three-Month Result

At three months, both components of Aicha's procedure have reached their definitive state. The buccal fat removal has completed its gradual reveal — the initial post-operative swelling has long resolved, the deep cheek tissue has settled, and the slimmed mid-face contour is permanent. The cheekbones stand out as the widest point of the face, and the lower cheeks taper cleanly toward the jaw.

The chin implant has fully integrated into its position. The soft tissue over the implant has adapted to the new projection, the mild swelling that surrounded the implant during the first weeks has resolved, and the chin projects naturally from both frontal and profile views. The implant feels stable and natural — firm against pressure, but not rigid or obviously artificial.

The combined effect is a facial contour that has changed from two directions. The cheeks are narrower. The chin is more projected. The jawline connects these two changes as a continuous, defined line from ear to chin point. The facial taper — wide at the cheekbones, narrowing through the jaw, terminating at a defined chin — reads as naturally sculpted rather than surgically constructed.

Profile Transformation

While buccal fat removal produces its most dramatic effect from the frontal view, chin augmentation transforms the profile. Aicha's side view at three months shows a chin that balances her nose, a jawline that extends as a clean horizontal line from ear to chin, and a cervicomental angle that has sharpened from its previously blunted state.

This profile improvement is permanent. The silicone implant does not resorb, shift, or change shape over time. The chin projection that Aicha sees at three months is the chin projection she will have at forty, fifty, and beyond. Combined with the permanent cheek reduction from buccal fat removal, her facial contour has been reshaped from both the frontal and profile perspectives through interventions that will endure for life.

Chin Implant and Cheek Reduction in Istanbul

Aicha's three-month before and after result demonstrates how two complementary procedures — one subtractive, one additive — produce a facial transformation greater than either could achieve alone. Buccal fat removal creates the cheek definition. The silicone chin implant creates the profile balance. Together, they reshape the facial silhouette from every viewing angle, producing a defined jawline and harmonious proportion through a single surgical session with minimal scarring and a recovery measured in days rather than weeks.