Aesthetic Treatment of the Jawline and Perioral Area

S. Randolph Waldman, MD

The perioral area subunit of the face is often considered the most ignored aspect of the aging face. Leaving this area alone when doing a brow lift or facelift may often lead to an unhappy patient or at best a partially treated patient. There are many reasons for this but there is no question that this reality is changing, especially in the era of injectable fillers. However, the expert practitioner must have various other solutions in their “toolbox” apart from just fillers. This edition of Facial Plastic Surgery will include descriptions of many of the potential solutions available to the facial plastic surgeon as they analyze and apply treatment to this very important aspect of the face.

I have asked many of the world's leading experts to contribute to this edition and I believe their expertise will become apparent in the following articles. Lip lines, the long upper lip, drooping at the corner of the mouth, puckering of the chin, the atrophic lip, and lack of bony structure are just a few of the issues addressed. Use of fillers, increasingly utilized lip lifting, corner of the mouth lifting, skin resurfacing with peels or lasers, and chin augmentation as well as judicious use of neurotoxins will be described in some detail.

It is certainly my hope that your knowledge base and decision making will be improved when you see and treat patients in your office or clinic. Most importantly, when we see a patient for facial rejuvenation, we should not limit our discussions to face lifting, blepharoplasty, or brow lifting.