How conscious are you of your jawline? Probably far more than you’d like to be. Whether you choose to stick your chin out or press your tongue against the roof of your mouth in photos and, as often as you can, in person, you’re constantly accommodating. And you’re not alone. Just about all of us do it, to varying degrees.
Our skin begins to thin in our 20s. Around age 50, we start losing bone, fat, and muscle in our jaws, which can have the effect of making the jowls look looser and much more prominent. For a long time, the only procedure that could do anything about them was a facelift. But now there are a number of noninvasive ways to get the capital-V jawline we covet.
Filler
Believe it or not, a stiff filler—yes, fillers have different consistencies—like Radiesse or Restylane, can compensate for a shrinking jawbone. Injections in the jaw under the chin and ears can add structure where the mandible bone has shrunk. If further support is needed, injections can be placed all along the jawline, which should be sufficient to lift and smooth the entire jaw for someone with mild to moderate sagging.
Kybella
Sun damage and genetics are two of the main causes of aging skin. On top of that, gravity is constantly working against your jaw (and breasts). A pocket of fat under your chin, AKA a double chin, only compounds matters. We can’t undo gravity, but there’s a simple solution for the double chin. Kybella is an injectable, synthetic form of a fat dissolver that exists naturally in your body called deoxycholic acid.
Essentially, Kybella breaks down fat cells so they can be flushed out of the body by your circulatory and lymphatic systems. It’ll not only get rid of your double chin, it’ll also tighten tissue around the injection site, which could help stave off sagging over the long term.
Radiofrequency
Different kinds of noninvasive radiofrequency treatments, like Thermage, heat up deep layers of the skin, which causes controlled damage that stimulates new collagen and ultimately firms the skin. Many who use it for tightening aging tissue along the jaw do so in combination with fillers to achieve a capital-v jawline.
Botulinum toxin type A
If you’re more concerned about a square jaw than sagging jowls, injecting a botulinum toxin type A, like Botox or Jeuveau, into the muscles at the edge of your jaw will relax the muscle, narrow the lower half of your face by a couple millimeters, and smooth the jaw. It’s proven to be an especially effective treatment for teeth grinders, whose jaw muscles can bulk up over time. As a secondary benefit in that instance, relaxing the muscles also usually relieves the chronic headaches caused by grinding.