Patient Photos

Cleft Chin Removal Combined With Chin Bone Shaving

This Issaquah cleft chin removal patient came to Dr. Thomas Lamperti looking to reduce the severity of her deep cleft chin. The chin clefting was due to both the patient's chin muscles and the chin bone itself. Also, the cleft was so deep that Dr. Lamperti decided that additional soft tissue was needed to fill in the cleft. To address this problem Dr. Lamperti made an incision inside the mouth (between the lower lip and gum line) to gain access to both the chin muscles and bone. The bone was then sculpted with a small drill. Next, the chin muscles were released. Dr. Lamperti then harvested soft tissue (fascia and dermis) from behind the patient's right ear. This tissue was then grafted into the deepest portion of the chin cleft. The mobilized chin muscles were then brought toward the midline which further augmented the area of clefting. In the four-month post-operative photos you can see how the patient's chin cleft is now much less prominent and catches much less of a shadow. The end result is that we focus less attention onto the chin area. Also, the chin tapers in a more feminine, narrow fashion that better fits with the rest of the patient's facial features.