I Got Chin Filler for My "Weak" Chin… On a Whim

My jaw ate my chin.

At least, that’s what it looked like to me. Every time I looked in the mirror from the side, all I could see was the general lack of structure along my jawline to my chin. “You have a mildly recessed chin,” says Melissa Kanchanapoomi Levin, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City. I’ve been a patient of Dr. Levin’s for roughly seven years—she knows my face up close and personal and can attest to the fact that my jaw did not, in fact, eat my chin. Still, my lack of chin had made me feel self-conscious for a long time.

There’s nothing “wrong” with my chin. It’s a chin! It does its chin job. But I wanted more balanced facial features without undergoing a permanent procedure, such as an implant. I wasn’t looking to dramatically change my chin, but over the years, Dr. Levin and I had talked about the option of filler to give it more structure, and the idea stuck with me.

• What is chin filler?
• Making the decision to get chin filler
• Prepping for filler
• The injection process
• Post-injection guidelines
• Overall thoughts

“Filler generally refers to any substance that can help lift or angle tissue—it’s most commonly composed of hyaluronic acid,” says Dhaval G. Bhanusali, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City. “Fillers tend to be good options for those who have volume deficits.” With chin filler, specifically, “we look at if there is an imbalance, with chin protrusion appearing disproportionate with the rest of the face,” he explains. Colloquially speaking, you might call this a “weak chin.”

Rewind to a couple of months ago, during an ordinary neurotoxin appointment, when, on a whim, I asked Dr. Levin for filler. She obliged.

As scary as this may sound, “on a whim” is typically how I describe my decision-making process, especially when it comes to in-office procedures. (This has also applied to neurotoxin treatments, radio-frequency microneedling, and lasers.) As a beauty editor, I’m a little less fearful of treatments because of the reporting and extensive research I’ve done over the span of my career; still, I have to admit, suddenly deciding to get facial filler after years of insecurity is a bit radical.

But as I said, Dr. Levin knows me and my face very well, and from her perspective, this decision—though it was unexpected—made sense anatomically. Because I am an ideal candidate for filler, she immediately approved.

“You have great skin: thick, healthy, robust skin,” she says. “You don't have any underlying skin laxity. You really fit the profile of what makes for a good candidate.” That’s also because I’m 33; people in their early 20s are less likely to be appropriate candidates for filler because facial features change as we age. Plus, I don’t smoke, and I do have realistic expectations when it comes to results.

“Patients should have an understanding of what fillers can and cannot achieve,” says Dr. Levin. “They can enhance, but they don't offer the same type of dramatic results that surgical interventions can. The role of filler is more subtle, natural-looking improvements rather than dramatic changes, [though] they may feel dramatic to you.”

After it was decided I would get filler right then and there, Dr. Levin and her team started to prep. This included cleaning the injection sites (chin and jawline), slathering on a hefty amount of numbing cream, walking me through the procedure, and, most importantly, ensuring I knew the possible side effects of facial filler.

Common side effects include bruising, swelling, and potential allergic reactions. “With any cosmetic procedure, there are always risks,” says Dr. Bhanusali. “Even in the most experienced hands, there is always a risk of occlusion (injecting filler into a vessel), which can lead to compromised tissue, blindness, and other issues.” That’s why it’s important to always see a board-certified dermatologist or plastic surgeon for these types of in-office procedures.

Dr. Levin also needed to confirm that I didn’t have any alcohol in my system (no problem—I don’t drink); hadn’t gotten a dental procedure in the last two weeks or had one scheduled (this can weaken the immune system); and that I hadn’t taken aspirin or ibuprofen within the last day or two (this can cause bruising).

A few minutes before I was completely numb from the bottom-lip down, Dr. Levin decided which filler I’d be getting. Here’s the thing about filler: It’s not a one-size-fits-all treatment. There are many (and I mean many) different types of injectable hyaluronic acid on the market, and the kind I got during my procedure was right for my face and body. And it’s important to note that what was right for me may not be right for everyone—that should be decided by the patient and dermatologist together.

There are different types of filler available for use on the chin, says Dr. Levin, but in my case, she chose Juvéderm’s Volux, which is FDA-approved for jawline enhancement. “Volux is a filler that we use more for structural enhancement,” she says. “We inject it onto the bone to help with that anatomical recession of your chin.”

Because you can’t just inject one area of the face to create anatomical symmetry, especially in my case, Dr. Levin also used another filler called Juvéderm Vollure to give me “some periorial support” in the area right above my chin but below my lips. With Vollure, she used a cannula, a blunt-ended tube, to do the injection. This was “to minimize the risk of [the filler] moving [around after it is injected/while it is injected], but also to help minimize the risk of filler getting into arteries and veins,” Dr. Levin explains, “so we can be a bit more safe in an area that has more arteries and more vessels.”

She adds, “There is no perfect way to inject. There's no recipe that says, ‘This is exactly how you do it.’ It's more like cooking intuitively.”

And to cook up my results, Dr. Levin used “one full syringe of Volux and half a syringe of Vollure” on my chin and jawline. I should note that the cost of filler varies and typically depends on what type is used, how many syringes are needed, where in the country you’re getting treatment, and who is doing the injecting. In my case, the procedure would likely range from $800 to a few thousand dollars, but because I would be writing about my experience, the treatment was performed gratis.

After the filler was injected, Dr. Levin sculpted it into place. Imagine crafting a figurine out of clay—she was literally molding the hyaluronic acid injected under my skin into a shape and position that best suited my facial anatomy. This was the most interesting and hands-on aspect of the entire procedure to me, but it’s not always necessary, according to Dr. Levin.

Once injected, she sculpted the filler into place, literally molding the hyaluronic acid that was under my skin, like crafting a figurine out of clay.

“There are certain places where sculpting helps with achieving the desired outcome when we're using fillers. Every face is unique, and fillers are obviously placed strategically and sculpted to complement the patient's natural contour,” she points out. “For me, sculpting helps fine-tune the placement, and it also ensures that the filler integrates well with the surrounding tissue to enhance the facial structure. I will sculpt typically on the chin, maybe a little bit on the jawline, for a sharper angle or a softer transition, depending on what I'm trying to achieve.”

This may sound painful, but because I was numb from the bottom-lip down, all I felt was pressure. The actual injections didn’t hurt, and the pottery work didn’t either. What did hurt, though, was my chin, about an hour post-procedure—but more on that in a minute.

As someone who had never gotten any kind of facial filler before, I wasn’t sure what to expect post-injection. And when Dr. Levin said “We don't want you to eat a ton of salty foods because it can increase the risk of swelling,” I audibly gulped. I certainly wasn’t expecting that directive, and it couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time: The next morning I would be hopping in a rental car for a six-hour road trip during which fast food would be the only thing on the menu. Spoiler: I did end up eating McDonald’s hashbrowns despite my doctor’s best wishes. (I’m sorry, Dr. Levin—I couldn’t resist!)

Diet aside, I was also told to take it easy on the workouts for the next couple of days. Again, this wasn’t ideal: I was in the midst of training for a marathon. Dr. Levin did mention that a jog here and there wouldn't hurt—“It’s not going to mess up or move the filler,” she explained—but I wasn’t about to chance losing my fancy new chin just to log a few lakeside miles.

Plus, my face (well, the lower half) was really tender. Dr. Levin said it would feel like “someone punched me in the chin,” and she wasn’t wrong. It also felt like my face had just been injected with a foreign object…. Hmm, weird. I tried my best not to touch the area (or let my dog accidentally touch it—she’s a jumper) and slept on my back for the next two weeks. (The joke’s on me because, apparently, my preferred side-sleeping position would have been just fine after the first 24 hours.)

Bruising and swelling typically go down after five to seven days, and that was definitely true for me. It took a full week for the faded bruising to clear, but during that time no one seemed to notice my blue and purple spotting and lack of concealer to cover it up. As I said, I didn’t want to touch the area, so I went sans makeup for as long as I could during the healing process.

It’s been a few months since my two-week checkup, when Dr. Levin inspected her work (and complimented me to no end), and I couldn’t be happier with the results. The outcome is subtle but noticeably beneficial to my overall facial balance, at least as I see it. “You have incredibly beautiful bone structure in your mid-face,” says Dr. Levin. “You have a beautiful jawline. Your enhancement is actually quite mild.”

Mild or not, the procedure has changed my life (not to sound dramatic). It changed my outlook on filler as a whole and gave me a big ’ol boost of confidence. I have a chin! I have a jawline! And I can see both in photos—from every angle!—for the first time. It’s a beautiful feeling.

Even more beautiful? The fact that I don’t need to get a re-up every few months. “Filler can last between eight and 12 months, and sometimes longer, depending on the patient,” says Dr. Bhanusali. “So start slow and remember, you can always add more—it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

And as someone who literally just ran a marathon, I get it.

Read more about facial filler:

• Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Fillers
• Botox vs. Filler: What's the Difference?
• What Happens When You've Gotten Filler for Years—and Then Stop?

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