The masseter is the muscle that sits over the outer side of the jaw bone and is used for chewing. Some people naturally have large masseter muscles, which gives a square shaped jawline. Women often view a square jaw as masculine and request treatment of the masseter to “slim” the lower half of the face.
Bruxism
People can also develop enlarged masseters due to teeth grinding or jaw clenching. This is known as bruxism. Over time the repeated clenching/grinding causes the masseter to get bigger and bigger leading to hypertrophy. This alters the shape of the lower face, creating a square jaw line.
Many people with bruxism also suffer from discomfort in the jaw area and from tension headaches from the jaw pulling on the temple area. These problems were previously only treated with special splints, physiotherapy and painkillers. But now injections normally used to treat lines and wrinkles, can be used to treat this area.
Treatment
Whether masseter reduction treatment is for jawline slimming or to treat bruxism, it is a simple and quick procedure. 4 injections are performed on each side with a tiny needle. The procedure can be uncomfortable but not painful and there is no downtime.
Masseter reduction/jaw slimming can be seen from 2 weeks and results last up to 6 months. Over time as the muscle atrophies, smaller amounts of injections are needed and with longer periods between treatments. The results improve significantly over the first year of treatment.
Chewing is not affected by the procedure, because the masseter can still contract and there are other muscles that can help with chewing.