Remove everything below the nerve!
Facial contouring surgery involves trimming facial bones to alter the shape of the face. For the face shape to change from trimming facial bones, surrounding soft tissue (skin, fat, muscle, etc.) must respond favorably. Putting this another way, as soft tissue needs to respond to alter the face, the maximum effect of facial contouring possible is essentially the maximum amount of responsive soft tissue. In passing thought, you would think removing maximal bones would maximally change the face shape but this isn’t so in reality. Removing bone mass in excess of responsive soft tissue will not be reflected in the shape of trimmed bone, resulting in excess soft tissue which will in turn create a sagging shape. When consulting outpatients, I’m often asked, “Is my nerve line high? Is it low?” Inside the lower jawbone, there is what’s called the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) which controls feeling in your teeth and lower lip. If you look at an x-ray of facial bones, this nerve goes through