Patient who hated his small jaw presents to our hospital
This young man from Australia never liked his retruded chin. It caused him to have a double chin. He had always wished to have a more prominent mandible. His quality of life was also affected by this. The patient had enquired all over Europe, but the costs there were prohibitive. Being a medical doctor himself, he researched the Internet for a quality oral surgeon. His Internet search led him straight to our hospital. He got in contact with our hospital manager who arranged for his travel to India.
Treatment plan explained to the patient
The patient met with Dr SM Balaji who obtained a detailed history from him. He was very particular that he wanted advancement through distractors. This was because he wanted to monitor for himself the changes as the distractors were activated each day. A treatment plan was then formulated and explained to the patient. His double chin would be corrected. He was then scheduled for surgery.
Surgical jaw correction for treatment of double chin
A rib graft was first harvested from the patient. A Valsalva maneuver demonstrated absence of any perforation into the thoracic cavity. The incision was then closed with sutures. Attention was next turned to the retrognathic mandible. A vestibular incision exposed the anterior mandibular bone. The chin was then placed forwards with a vertical augmentation genioplasty. Two L-shaped four holed plates were then used to fix the bones of the chin. The posterior mandible was then osteotomized for placement of the distractors. Mandibular distractors were then fixed with screws and tested.
There was adequate function of the distractors. Bilateral inferior alveolar nerves were carefully protected during the entire procedure. Attention was then turned to the maxilla. Maxillary osteotomy with placement of bone grafts aided distractor placement. Similar distractors were also utilized here. The incisions were then closed with sutures. The distractors were in stable position. 1 mm distraction per day will be next performed until adequate advancement of jaws.
The patient recovered from general anesthesia without any complications. The patient expressed his complete satisfaction with the results before discharge.
