JAMA FPS JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery · 2013

Combined rhinoplasty and genioplasty: long-term follow-up

Bertossi D, Albanese M, Turra M, Favero V, Nocini P, Lucchese A.

What this paper says

In 90 patients who had open rhinoplasty and chin surgery in one operation, the chin bone measured stable to within 1 mm at 3 years, with 45.6% of reduction and 52.4% of augmentation cases showing no measurable change.

Overview

A weak or prominent chin changes how a nose looks in profile, so some surgeons operate on both at once. The authors reviewed three years of follow-up on combined rhinoplasty and bone chin surgery at an academic center, measuring whether the chin position held.

Sections of note

Retrospective study of 90 combined open rhinoplasty and genioplasty cases, January 2002 to January 2004, with objective and subjective evaluation before and 3 years after.
Measures: soft tissue pogonion projection to the true vertical line, and mandibular height from incisor tip to menton.
Reduction genioplasty: 45.6% showed 100% stability (under 0.25 mm resorption at the menton) at 3 years.
Augmentation genioplasty: 52.4% showed 100% stability; 22 patients had vertical augmentation of 4 to 6 mm (mean 5.3) and 25 had sagittal augmentation of 6 to 8 mm (mean 7.2).
No more than 1 mm of chin recurrence in any patient.
The abstract gives no nasal outcome measurements or complication figures; level of evidence 4.

What it means for a patient

Chin bone repositioning done alongside rhinoplasty held its position over 3 years, with relapse under 1 mm.
The authors regard the combined operation as the usual best option for patients with a small chin, but the abstract does not report satisfaction scores.
No comparison with staged surgery, and nasal results are not quantified.

Why this paper matters

Profile balance is a recurring theme in rhinoplasty planning, and this is one of the longer follow-ups for combined nose and chin surgery. It measures bone stability, not patient-perceived facial harmony.

Terms

Genioplasty: surgery that cuts and repositions, or augments, the chin bone.
Profileplasty: combined surgery on nose and chin to balance the side view.
Pogonion: the most forward point of the chin.
Menton: the lowest point of the chin bone.
Microgenia: a small, receding chin.
True vertical line: a reference line used to measure how far the chin projects.

Summary written by rhinoplasty.cc from the abstract, 2026-09-08; not medical advice. The authors' own abstract follows.

From the abstract

“Long-term follow-up reference for experienced clinicians dedicated to profileplasty. Objective: To evaluate the long-term results and complications of combined rhinoplasty and genioplasty. Design: Retrospective study including objective and subjective evaluation before and after 3 years of undergoing simultaneous open…”

Excerpt; the full abstract is on PubMed.