A cleft chin, sometimes called a “butt chin,” can be smoothed out with dermal fillers for a temporary fix or with surgery for a permanent one. The cleft itself is primarily a soft tissue feature: the paired muscles on either side of the chin have a wide gap between them or are thick enough to create a visible groove down the center. The underlying jawbone sometimes has a slight indentation at the midline, but the dimple you see on the surface is mostly shaped by muscle and fat, not bone.
What Actually Causes a Cleft Chin
Your chin has two mirrored muscles that control how your lower lip moves. In people with a cleft chin, these muscles are either separated by a wider-than-usual gap or are unusually thick, pulling the overlying skin inward and creating that central groove. The trait is genetic and tends to become more or less pronounced with age as fat distribution in the face changes. Some people notice their cleft deepening as they lose facial volume in their 30s and 40s, while others find it softens over time.
Dermal Fillers: The Non-Surgical Option
The fastest and least invasive way to smooth a cleft chin is with injectable filler. A provider places a hyaluronic acid filler directly into the groove, filling the gap between the two chin muscles so the surface looks even. The procedure takes about 15 to 30 minutes in an office setting with no general anesthesia required.
The amount of filler needed depends on how deep your cleft is. For chin and jawline work, providers typically use between 1 and 3 mL for the chin area specifically, though some patients need up to 6 mL when treating the entire chin and jawline together. Firmer, higher-density fillers are preferred here because the chin needs structural support rather than the soft, pillowy fill used in lips.
Results are visible immediately, though swelling in the first 24 hours can make the area look slightly overfilled. Most swelling and tightness resolve within 5 to 7 days. By two weeks, the filler has fully integrated with the surrounding tissue and looks natural. You can expect results to last roughly 12 to 18 months before the body gradually breaks the filler down and the cleft starts to reappear.
The main advantage of fillers is reversibility. If you don’t like the result, hyaluronic acid fillers can be dissolved with an enzyme injection. The main downside is cost over time, since you’ll need touch-ups every year or so to maintain the look.
Surgical Correction
For a permanent fix, surgery targets the soft tissue gap directly. The most common approach involves repositioning or thinning the chin muscles, removing a small amount of subcutaneous tissue at the cleft site, and sometimes lightly reshaping the bone at the midline. A surgeon creates an adhesion between the skin and the underlying bone so the surface sits flat rather than dipping inward.
Several techniques exist depending on the anatomy:
- Soft tissue recontouring: The surgeon removes a small cuff of tissue and muscle at the dimple site and sutures the thinned skin down to the bone, eliminating the groove.
- Bone smoothing: If the jawbone itself has a pronounced indentation at the midline, a round burr can smooth it out. This is often combined with the soft tissue work above.
- Fat grafting: Fat harvested from another part of your body can be injected into the cleft to add permanent volume, similar in concept to fillers but longer lasting.
- Chin implant with recontouring: When a patient also wants more chin projection, a surgeon can smooth the cleft during the same procedure by adjusting the soft tissue while placing an implant.
The incision is typically made inside the mouth, along the lower gum line, so there’s no visible scar on the face.
Recovery After Surgery
Surgical chin procedures generally involve about one to two weeks of noticeable swelling and bruising. Most people return to work within a week, though the chin will still look slightly puffy. Full results take two to three months to appear as deep swelling resolves and tissues settle into their final position. During the first few weeks, you’ll likely be on a soft diet and asked to avoid strenuous activity.
One risk worth knowing about: procedures that involve cutting or reshaping the jawbone carry up to a 10% chance of affecting the mental nerve, which provides sensation to your lower lip and chin. This can cause temporary or, in rare cases, lasting numbness. Soft tissue-only procedures carry a lower nerve risk since the work stays above the bone.
Cost Comparison
Filler treatments for a cleft chin typically run between $600 and $1,500 per session, depending on how much product is used and where you live. Since results fade, you’re looking at that cost repeating every 12 to 18 months.
Surgical correction is a larger upfront investment. The average surgeon’s fee for chin surgery is $3,641, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, but that number doesn’t include anesthesia, facility fees, or follow-up care. The total out-of-pocket cost usually lands between $5,000 and $10,000. Since cleft chin correction is cosmetic, insurance won’t cover it.
Do Exercises or Mewing Work?
No. Jaw exercises and techniques like mewing (pressing the tongue against the roof of the mouth to supposedly reshape the jaw) can strengthen muscles, but they do not change bone structure or facial contours. A cleft chin is created by the separation and shape of the chin muscles themselves, and no exercise can close that gap or flatten the groove. The only proven methods are fillers or surgery.
Who Is a Good Candidate
Most healthy adults are candidates for either fillers or surgery. The main exceptions are people whose facial bones are still growing, which rules out most teenagers. Females typically complete craniofacial growth earlier than males, but providers generally prefer to wait until growth is fully complete before doing any structural chin work.
If you have very thin skin over the chin, surgical implants or aggressive recontouring may not work well because the edges of an implant or irregularities in the tissue can become visible. Your provider can assess this during a consultation. People with significant bite misalignment (where the upper and lower jaws don’t meet properly) may need orthodontic or orthognathic treatment rather than cosmetic chin work, since the structural issue goes deeper than the surface dimple.