For some reason, I had it firmly fixed in my head that jawline contouring uses Botox, so when I turned up to meet Dr Darren McKeown, the first surprise of the day was that he wasn’t going anywhere near me with a syringe full of Botox, but instead was using the filler, Juvederm. Jawline contouring is a non-surgical treatment that firms up the jawline – Dr Darren explained it as the thing you have when you don’t yet need a facelift (if indeed you were to consider such a thing) but have lost firmness around the chin and jawlines. I’d say that fits me perfectly well – I’m not sure if I’ll ever go the facelift route; I’ve always said I am happy to go with the ageing process as long as I can do it in the best possible way and a facelift seems counter to the ageing process in a way that a few tweaks here and there don’t. But ask me again in ten year’s time – I might have a completely different view! So, if you are regular reader of BBB you’ll know that I have regular Botox, the occasional filler, and most recently had my cheeks sculpted with filler which was an excellent ‘rejuvenator’ for the face. 

I’ve been curious to try the jawline treatment, and also to meet Dr Darren McKeown, who up to now has had a career as a plastic surgeon in the NHS. He’s been doing fillers and Botox as well for some considerable time, but it’s always a risk seeing someone new – especially with something as important as your face. He explained the procedure to me – and here’s where the surgeon training shows – he uses a canula instead of a sharp tipped needle to insert the filler because the jawline area is home to several important nerves, glands and blood vessels which he feels are at risk using a traditional sharp tipped needle because it could literally glide straight through a nerve, where as the blunt tipped canula would resist and push the nerves out of the way. A better option all round, I feel, as although fillers and non-surgical procedures are pretty well the norm, there are always some risks.


He inserted some local anaesthetic around my jaw – and then a whole whack of the stuff into the area between the bottom of my nose and top lip (is there a name for that place?? not sure…) which I really didn’t like, so he could add a bit of filler to the corners of my mouth to send them into a smile, not a frown. After that, and here come the gory pictures, he pushed the canula through and inserted the filler.

Fine needle (large) and micro-canula (small)

Similar to this

Canula going in…
Canula in..
My Fu Manchu Moustache!

Now, I might say at this point it was not the most comfortable thing in the world..there is a bit of rummaging as he pushes the canula around under the skin to deposit the filler in an even way. He spent about 10 minutes on each side ensuring they were both smooth and symmetrical. By the last injection I was swearing a bit and he had to remind me to breathe! However, the effect is brilliant,and in fact the most painful part was injecting the mouth corners. Within 20 minutes or so, my jawline was back to a tautness that is in keeping with the rest of my face – it looks completely natural and if I wasn’t telling X amount of people on my blog, I’d probably never mention to anyone that I’d had it done and they could just live with the illusion that I was looking ‘well’, which seems to be a stock response to a little work that isn’t blatantly obvious. Nobody can quite put their finger on what’s been done, but they know something looks better than it used to! And that is exactly how I like tweaks to be done – I don’t want pillow lips, bunny lines or a forehead you could skate on.


Jawline contouring is a very effective treatment in jollying up your jowls – I’d recommend it in a heartbeat – and mercifully can recommend Dr Darren too (how embarrassing if I couldn’t!). He’s a lovely, friendly and easy-going man who just ‘gets it’ about how women want their faces to look, and incidentally, has wanted to be a plastic surgeon since he was six years old. I forgot to say that before he started working on me, he drew lines on the lower part of my face with a black eye liner (I didn’t look silly or anything, honest, ahem) to be sure of a symmetrical result. The whole thing was over and done with in under an hour and the results are instant. I have to be honest and say the area is a little tender right now, but I had a meeting straight after the treatment and nobody could see any puncture marks or swelling. 

The treatment costs between £275 and £475 (remarkably reasonable if you do price comparisons) and the results should last about a year. Darren is also launching Naked Truth; a skin care line, about which I will post properly at a later date. http://www.drdarrenmckeown.com/

Transparency Disclosure

All products are sent to me as samples from brands and agencies unless otherwise stated. Affiliate links may be used. Posts are not affiliate driven.