Male versus female jawline filler injection points

There are some key differences to be aware of when injecting male and female jawlines with dermal fillers, simply down to the differences in the facial features and ratios between the sexes. It is very easy to get it wrong.

In this blog, Dr Tim Pearce explains the differences between male and female jawlines, and where to inject filler to avoid feminising a male face or masculinising a female face.

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How do we define male beauty?

Beauty, including male beauty, is self-referential. The image of a person that you see is only beautiful when it refers appropriately to the other parts of the face. Thus, when you change too much in one place, you can break those ratios and make the face look unnatural which our brains are very adept at noticing.

Male beauty – male masculinity – is very different to female beauty. The biggest difference lies in the ratio between the cheeks and the chin. This uncertainty is one of the things that Dr Tim sees regularly on social media where aesthetic practitioners are trying to understand how to approach injecting male lips or male cheeks. He explains that the key difference when treating men and injecting male lips and male cheeks is to inject them a lot less because male beauty is more about jawlines dominating over cheeks.

For example, if you want to upgrade a female’s appearance, you will often make the chin look more petite and the cheeks look more dominant. It is exactly the opposite with a male patient; we want to make the jawline more dominant, and the cheeks look smaller.

There are other facial factors that differentiate male faces from females, including the brow ridge, the size of the nose, narrower lips etc., but when treating men, the area we can inject without a doubt to enhance male beauty is the jawline.

What are men pursuing when they want aesthetic treatment?

As Dr Tim often states, this all starts with a good consultation. It is very important if you are consulting a male patient who wants to look more masculine that you choose your words appropriately. Most men are not keen on being described as becoming more ‘beautiful’ after treatment; they want to look more handsome, rugged, or athletic. Knowing this can guide your treatment strategy.

If a male patient wants to look more masculine, athletic, or strong, then your approach is directed to enhancing angles and proportions, giving the impression of a strong jaw, large bones, and strong muscles. Being able to see some of the anatomy underneath also does not degrade a man in quite the same way as it might a woman. Certain lines or shadows that indicate having a low volume of fat can sometimes be associated with being athletic and good-looking in a way that is less true with women where more volume is seen as attractive and healthy.

Dr Tim also advises aesthetic clinicians when treating their patients to try and establish their underlying philosophical beauty type. This may be a youthful, baby-face beauty or a statuesque beauty type. When you understand that, you can augment, alter, or improve in a way that is consistent with their existing facial structure.

Why do some men end up looking more feminine after aesthetic treatments?

Approximately 90% of aesthetic treatments are performed on women, suggests Dr Tim. This is simply down to the fact that men and women value appearance differently, with women more interested in beauty than men, despite ongoing changes in current society.

Unfortunately, the impact of this is that some men do end up looking more feminine after an aesthetic treatment because the average aesthetic clinician is much more used to treating female faces than male faces causing them to err towards a classic injection approach based on treating female faces.

A good example of this is when treating the forehead with botulinum toxin. Some men end up with eyebrow lifts because a female pattern of injection has been used which considers that practitioners worry about dropping females’ eyebrows when female eyebrows should be arched. Men can take a brow drop because their natural state is a heavy brow.

Another mistake happens when treating male cheeks using a female approach. A large, voluminous, soft cheek is not masculine, hence the more dermal filler you place to create definition and reduce lines and shadows, the more you err on the side of creating a feminine look for your male patient.

How to inject the male jawline?

With our foundation in the understanding of male beauty and using aesthetic treatments to masculinise the male face, it is all about angles and proportions.

If you have a look at a good-looking man, there is a ratio that makes the jawline approximately the same width as the cheek, or potentially, in an even more masculine male, the jawline dominates the cheek. For most men, the proportions are about the same or slightly narrower, with approximately ten degrees difference between the cheek and the jawline. The male jawline is therefore different to the female jawline because it is wider relative to the cheeks. Similarly, there is a stronger angle to the jawline.

If you look at a natural, untreated female jawline in a beautiful, young woman, there is a gentle curve to the jawline. Whereas, in a man, it is considered more masculine to have a straighter jawline with a straighter line between the gonial angle and the angle of the chin.

This line, although straight from certain angles, can also curve outwards. Therefore, it is more acceptable in a man to add additional volume at the gonial angle to make the jawline straight and make it slightly curve outwards than it would be in a female patient.

The angle on the chin also differs between men and women. In males, there is a straighter line where the chin meets the jawline, touching that line at either side of the chin. Whereas, in females, it is more common to have a low point where the chin curves down to a single, central point.

All these core differences influence how you should inject a male jawline compared to a female to create more of an angle where appropriate.

Therefore, the top tip from Dr Tim is that the most common injection point to masculinise a male face is on the angle drawn downwards past the oral commissure and onto the chin, doing so on both sides. This injection point is more lateral on a male, whereas in a female the injection points would be parallel with the nostrils rather than parallel with the oral commissures.

The male jawline can also be lower than the female jawline, presenting another common mistake when injecting. Female faces are heart-shaped and male faces are much squarer because the gonial angle is lower. On a male patient, you may inject inferior to the gonial angle and lower the gonial angle (where appropriate) without making them look female because you would be making them squarer and thus more masculine. Conversely, on a female patient, if you are injecting the gonial angle and you lower it, even slightly, you will make them look like they have a bigger jawline – even if it looks straight and petite from one angle, the lowness of that point relative to the cheek will make them appear more masculine.

When injecting at this same point on a man, you can also add volume to the gonial angle to widen the jaw. From the frontal view, this is the most masculinising thing you can do by creating a wideness to the lower face. Dr Tim prefers to add the bulk of the volumizing on the gonial angle using a needle down to the periosteum, rather than a cannula, so the filler remains stable during jaw movement and mouth opening.

His final tip when treating the chin and jawline in all patients is to continually look at their face from all angles – straight on, from a profile perspective etc. When you are injecting you need to be continuously moving your head and looking at structures like the chin and jaw in context with all the other planes of the face. This will ensure that you avoid augmenting in unnatural directions and maintain natural proportions, without something looking good from one view and irregular from another.

Get more tips from Dr Tim including:

• Interview with Daniel Julien on treating the male mid and lower face
• Creating a defined female jawline with fillers without masculinising.

Do you treat many male patients? Dr Tim is always keen to hear about the experiences of his followers. So, if you have any tips for others or questions for him, you can find Dr Tim Pearce on Instagram.

Aesthetics Mastery Show

Male vs female jawline injection points

In this episode Dr Tim explores the key differentiators that you need to be aware of to avoid masculinising a female face. He explains the best injection points to achieve different looks and takes a look at some key examples of male jaws injected incorrectly. Watch the full Aesthetics Mastery Show here.

The video has received feedback from subscribers and viewers on the YouTube channel, including the following comments:

@rebeccahodges5376 said:

“As always very helpful! Your descriptions and instruction are invaluable. I am so appreciative that you share your abilitys”

@drlnstza9802 responded:

“Very good information. I’ve been avoiding this treatment on my patients just because of the complexity of the area. So many angles to consider. This answered all of my questions. Thank You!”

@victortortorici8502 enthused:

“Incredibly useful and practical information, thankful with Dr Pierce for sharing his knowledge”

@NoahklinikDe added:

“Very nice, helpful advices as I prepare a live show female vs male lower face. Some many times young inst customers approach us with and express a need for JAWLINE, not understanding the masculinization which they might encounter.”

Read more comments and join in the debate on our YouTube channel.

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