For the past four years, Restylane Defyne has been a dermatologist favorite for plumping up nasolabial folds—the lines extending from the bottom of the nose to the corners of the mouth—and now, it’s also FDA-approved for chin augmentation in adults over 21, which has become an even bigger trend during the great Zoom Boom of 2020 and beyond. According to Galderma—Restylane’s parent company—in 2020 alone, online searches for chin enhancement increased by 185 percent.
Part of the hyaluronic acid filler family, Restylane Defyne is created using Galderma’s unique XpresHAn Technology, which allows the gel to smoothly integrate into areas of skin that experience frequent expression, like the lower face. “Restylane Defyne’s FDA-approval for use in chin augmentation follows the approval of Juvéderm Voluma, which was the first filler to receive FDA-approval for use in the chin,” says Smithtown, NY facial plastic surgeon James C. Marotta, MD. “Both of these fillers share similar characteristics in that they are made of hyaluronic acid and are somewhat thicker products, which make them better for sculpting bony areas like the chin, cheeks or jawline. Nonsurgical augmentation of the chin and jawline has become wildly popular over the past few years because of the chiseled look it can deliver with very little to no downtime.”
Results of Phase 3 clinical trials of Restylane Defyne on a diverse group of participants—all skin types, men and women, and those older than 52—showed that 74 percent of patients experienced significantly improved chin projection that lasted up to one year, as measured by the Galderma Chin Retrusion Scale. According to the company, when asked about their results at a 12-week follow-up, 99 percent of patients reported improvement in the appearance of their chin projection.
New York plastic surgeon Mohktar Asaadi, MD has been using fillers in the chin for a long time, but prefers a different approach. “Deflation of the soft tissues of the chin is commonly seen in many patients,” he says. “I use Juvéderm Voluma and inject it with a cannula to the chin and perioral areas. Then I also inject a few units of Botox [off-label] to the mentalis muscles of the chin at the same time to improve the wrinkles of the chin. This cocktails improves the perioral area and chin, even in patients who are having a facelift and necklift, because there is no surgical procedure that can improve this area of the face.”
Scottsdale, AZ facial plastic surgeon Kelly Bomer, MD also has many years of experience augmenting the chin with hyaluronic acid filler. “In my experience, the best mimic of bone for balancing the chin profile with filler is Restylane Lyft, which offers the projection and structure for achieving a significant bony chin augmentation,” she says. “Restylane Defyne is wonderful in the subcutaneous and subdermal planes for smoothing irregular texture, buffing out lines and providing support and structure to the skin for subtle contour changes.”