Jawline injection points, anatomy, and safety tips

The jawline can be a very effective, but tricky area to treat, with many aesthetic clinicians excited to learn treatment during training, but soon overwhelmed by the complexity of the anatomy, and variations they see in practice.

In this blog, Dr Tim Pearce explains that to effectively treat the jawline, you need to look at the face in 3D, understand the facial anatomy and the differences between male and female jawlines and faces, discussing where to inject, and how to do it safely to avoid complications.

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The anatomy of the jawline

It is vital before thinking about injecting the jawline with dermal fillers to consider and be aware of the structures underneath the skin.

The parotid gland is located inferior to the zygoma and is a rather large structure that sits on top of the masseter muscle as it runs downwards towards the jawline. In front of the masseter muscle, which is our defining point of the jawline, the facial artery emerges and curls upwards, heading towards the alar base where it becomes the angular artery.

The next marker is the submental artery. This is the artery usually occluded in cases of chin vascular occlusion. The submental artery is a small artery that emerges on the anterior part of the mandible. Typically, this is not quite on the bone, however, anatomical variations mean it can sometimes be on the bone. Similarly, it is not typically on the midline, but it can be occasionally in some patients, more commonly females.

When approaching the jawline to inject, one of the first things Dr Tim does is feel for the notch in the jaw; this tells you the location and emergence point for the facial artery.

If you have an ultrasound device, you can consider performing a scan around the jaw and chin to locate vessels.

The aesthetics of jawline treatment

As aesthetic clinicians, if you are going to create a treatment plan that makes your patient more beautiful, you need to have a clear goal, and you need to pick the right patients for that journey, which also means understanding the differences between men and women.

The goal for a female jawline is to make the jaw less dominant in the face than the cheeks. The aim is a petite chin which terminates usually in the midpoint, and a narrower gonial angle so the cheeks dominate over the jawline. Resulting in a relatively narrow jawline, pointed downward so that it creates a heart-shaped face.

The goal for men and the male jawline is very different. In many ways, men’s jawlines are easier to treat because they simply just need to be bigger and more dominant. With male patients, you can add dermal filler product that creates shape and not worry as much about over treatment. Whereas, in females it is very easy to overdo it and leave them appearing masculine, simply by adding too much and making them wider at any point – the chin, jawline, gonial angle.

When you look at a face from a profile view, we can also decide on how far you need to project. Dr Tim believes that many chins actually break the facial plane. The facial plane usually runs with a straight line drawn from the nasion down towards the chin, and in many diagrams, it will be shown with the chin being flush with the nasion, but if you look at very good-looking people, including various actresses, often the chin is a little bit stronger than that and breaks the facial plan. Therefore, Dr Tim is not so afraid of over projection, a little bit, according to that rule, but he is certainly afraid of inferior projection in a female and making them look masculine.

In summary, he notes that there are two aspects – the lateral and the inferior – that are most commonly overtreated. One of the hardest aspects when it comes to treating the jawline is that it is the meeting point of multiple facial planes. This means that you cannot adjust one without affecting the other, thus every inject you place must take account of where the other facial planes are meeting.

As a top tip, Dr Tim explained that when he performs jawline treatment, he is often looking across the patient, viewing them from side to side to achieve three-dimensional awareness of the treatment outcome. You should never treat the patient just looking at one side of their face whilst you are injecting; otherwise, it will result in beautiful definition on that side, but once they turn their head, they will appear wider and longer than they should because you have not thought about all the intersecting facial planes.

Common injection points for jawline treatment

If you are treating a female patient, it is useful to start with the gonial angle, remembering not to make it too straight – Dr Tim warns that it can look like an adolescent boy if too straight, or give a gaunt appearance.

Place a small amount of product in the gonial angle as your main injection point, laterally. Then we move on to the chin. With a female patient, this tends to be a central injection point. Whereas, in a male patient, there will be two injection points, either side. The injection point itself will change, notes Dr Tim, according to whether you want to project anteriorly, inferiorly, or a mix of both, which is very common.

Get more insight from Dr Tim:

• Creating a defined female jawline with fillers without masculinising
• Male versus female jawline filler injection points

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

Jawline Injection Points Anatomy & Safety Tips

In this episode Dr Tim explains that to effectively treat the jawline, you need to look at the face in 3D, understand the anatomy, and the differences between male and female faces.

Watch the full Aesthetics Mastery Show here.

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

@gigicoogler said:

“I thought I couldn’t express my respect for Dr. Tim anymore than I have. I however, am completely floored by his bravery to tell the truth regardless of the consistent growing censorship of todays “big” media platforms “etc.” Kudos Dr Tim.”

@@79apriljg asked:

“Dr Tim. Can you do some more videos on proper uses and treatments done with CaHA fillers. So people will know going into an appt what it should look and sound like when explained and also it really helps when your in a more rural area and don’t have a lot of reviews to look at Or too many in the closest city, it makes me feel better knowing my info so I know when to get up out of someone’s chair. Those who are not practicing clinicians are still learning so much and can actually take tips in office with us when we know how we want our procedures and injections done. Some people get butt hurt about it but honestly it’s our body and our money so I feel like it’s only right that they listen to us even though they think that we’re not smart enough I don’t have enough experience to really know that’s not true. We “layman’s” are way smarter than most “injectors” give us credit for. I am had someone who call themselves a master injector completely make my Jawline and chin misshapen. And made my face wider and more square shaped, mainly looking just like she’s talking about. This girl that shared her story she definitely needed her face to be elongated and that’s what I would like to see you know if it’s someone that needs their face elongated they don’t need it to be projected out words, but they need it they neither draw to be extended downward. Can you show videos about that and like where that the injector should be placing the product or where they should be explaining that they’re going to place it in order to get this outcome or that outcome The this information is so in valuable to everyone! We appreciate your honesty”

@DrTimPearce replied:

“I really don’t don’t feel safe using CaHA fillers on the average patient, reversibility of HA is such a huge safety element. Haven’t used it since 2014”

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

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Dermal Filler eLearning Courses

If you want to increase your knowledge about safe and effective dermal filler injectable treatments, Dr Tim Pearce offers a series of fabulous courses. The foundation level is a popular starting point, with many delegates continuing to complications courses focused around safety, including how to minimise the risk and how to handle things if the worst occurs:

• Dermal Fillers Foundation Course
• Dermal Filler Complications Mastery

Both give CPD and certificates on completion and are highly rated by our delegates.

In addition, browse our FREE downloadable resources.

Dr Tim Pearce eLearning

Dr Tim Pearce MBChB BSc (Hons) MRCGP founded his eLearning concept in 2016 in order to provide readily accessible BOTOX® and dermal filler online courses for fellow Medical Aesthetics practitioners. His objective was to raise standards within the industry – a principle which remains just as relevant today.

Our exclusive video-led courses are designed to build confidence, knowledge and technique at every stage, working from foundation level to advanced treatments and management of complications.

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