What is the cost of genioplasty and a chin implant?

Cost is a major factor in elective surgery. Afterall, if it is too expensive, there is always the cheaper option of not having it at all. However, in real life, elective procedures often cost more than non-elective ones. This may appear counterintuitive but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. The demands and expectation of a cosmetic surgery patient is much higher and nebulous than a patient who is undergoing emergency coronary bypass surgery. The latter will be grateful if he survives but the former may not be happy even if the surgery is a success in the eyes of the surgeon. The technique of performing chin surgery is relatively simple, but attaining the results desired by the patient is a different matter. But don’t worry, the cost of chin surgery is nowhere near the heart surgery ballpark.

Examination and Diagnosis

The first and most important step is understanding what the patient wants. With the advent of the internet, patients have access to a lot of information and many do come for the first consultation with their own diagnosis and treatment plan. Some may decide after they have done their research that they want a genioplasty or a chin implant and request for it directly. Whenever I see such a patient, I will have to tactfully tell them to take a step back first and work through the diagnosis with me. From our conversation, I will try to understand the result that they are seeking. I will do a thorough facial assessment which include measurement of facial features and proportion. Radiographic analysis is also needed, followed by a 3D simulation of the surgical results. Sometimes, an isolated chin surgery may not be able to achieve the desired results and additional procedures may be needed. This can only be uncovered through a thorough diagnostic process. This phase of treatment may take a few visits and the cost may add up to about $1000-2000.

Genioplasty

Genioplasty is cutting the chin from the lower jaw and repositioning it into a new position. This is usually done under general anesthesia in a hospital operating room. As such, there are three sets of bills; the surgeon’s fee, the anesthesiologist’s fee and the hospital charges. Surgeon’s fee typically ranges from $3000 to $5000 while anesthesiologist’s fee is usually between $1000 and $2000. Hospital charges comprises operating room, ward, nursing, consumable supplies, drugs, etc and ranges between $4000 and $6000. Fixation is usually done with titanium plate and screws which adds another $1000 -$1500 to the cost. When you add everything up, the cost of a genioplasty lies somewhere between $9000 and $14500.

To reduce the cost, it is possible to do the procedure in the clinic as an outpatient procedure. Instead of general anesthesia, intravenous sedation can be used. However, post operative monitoring is limited and some cases may still need to be admitted for management of complications such as bleeding.

Chin implant

A chin implant is usually done in the clinic under local anesthesia and intravenous sedation. The surgery is simpler than a genioplasty and chances of post operative complications such as bleeding are much lower. Surgeon’s fee ranges about $2000-3000 and anesthesiologist’s fee averages $700-900. Clinic consumables may add another $500 to the cost. In addition, the chin implant may add another $1500-2000 to the cost. In all, the whole procedure may cost between $4700 and $6400.

For patients who are too nervous, general anesthesia can also be used, in which case, it must be done in a hospital or ambulatory surgery operating room. Naturally, this adds to the overall cost, pushing it up by another $4000-5000.

Choose the right surgery

While cost is always an important consideration, it is more important to choose the right surgery rather than the cheaper one. Chin surgery is primarily cosmetic in nature and there is no such thing as an emergency cosmetic surgery. After deciding on the correct surgery to achieve the established goals, there is always time to raise the money to pay for it. Doing a chin implant when a genioplasty is needed will ultimately be more expensive is revision surgery is needed to correct the surgery.