Good to know im not the only person with this!! I was born with my assymetry (turns out the right side of my face has "overgrown" the left - resulting with a bigger right side of my face then the left and making my lower jaw/chin slant badly to the left).

I too get pretty low about it because people do notice mine and thats how i started to notice mine, my aunt pointed it out to me when i was 10 and my self esteem has never quite recovered.

Ive been to see a Maxillofacial Surgeon at Cambridge and its all pretty intense, but i know after my chat with the guy that pretty much anything can be changed with anyones face!! So if anyone thinks that nothing can be done with your face - its really can!! But its a VERY lenghthy process, between 1 1/2 years to 2 1/2 years for the full thing including recovery. You have to wear a elastic brace for AT LEAST a year before your even booked in for surgery. Then after the surgery its can take a good few months for the swelling to fully go down. You spend about 2 months not being able to eat proper food and youll look like youve just been beaten up with a bat for a few months too. Good look! Im still debating if i should go for it or not. My family think im stupid and its not needed (theyve "never noticed it") but on the other hand if it would improove my confidence then surley its a good thing?! Besides, it would be lovely to go out and wear my hair up rather then having to wear it down all the time to cover up the "wonky face".

Some people have said some really nasty things to me (someone even thought i had a mental health problem!) but other people have said that im really pretty and i should be a model. Which i find quite patronising! But i agree with the people on here who say that some people just dont notice it and think your really good looking, but you never know if there just being nice or if they genuinly mean it.

I hope some of this helps and gives people an idea of what happens if you do want something done about it

my name is renee, and i have been aware of my assymmetry since i was 13 years old. at the time it was not noticeable to anyone besides myself and my orthodontist, and i wasnt worried about it since my deviation was insignificant at best. i became a model and was very happy with myself, feeling like i was turning into a beautiful, normal young teenager. by the end of my 14th year, though, my right condyle began growing very quickly while my left stayed the same size. my orthodontist was quite certain it was condylar hyperplasia and said that when i was finished growing i would need to get braces and then surgery followed by a year of braces and therapy.

i was ready and willing to follow through with my treatment until i entered high school, and people noticed my deformity. i had obviously been dropped from my modeling agency so my self esteem wasnt anywhere near what it should have been. people noticing that i wasnt pretty anymore (which is what i thought) broke my heart. i went from being one of the prettiest girls in school to being someone that people whispered about and made fun of. so, i figured that if i got braces i would be made fun of ten times worse so i never even began treatment for my condition.

here i am, at 21 and i have incredibly debilitating issues with my appearance. i am quite confident in all other aspects of my life, i have a boyfriend and a beautiful son, i attend college and indiana state university and maintain a job, but i am still a bit awkward in some social situations. if there are very few people at a gathering i wont talk because i dont want people to notice i cant even smile correctly. these insecurities shouldnt be an issue, but i cant help but think im somehow different or unaccepted due to my face. does anyone have any pics they could send me? i have always felt SOOOO alone with my problem and have never met anyone else like me. i would be happy to send my pics as well for comparison. thanks!

Hello everyone.

Eversince I studied art at college, I worked on self-portraits, only to discover asymmetry I never before recognised. I was shocked and upset, and like another poster mentioned, asked myself why me? I began a cycle of looking at my reflection constantly, taking pictures of myself and comparing them to models/celebrities. Editing them on photoshop to create my 'ideal' self-portrait, which obviously only made things worse and myself more unhappy.
So, I banned myself from looking at my reflection unless absolutely necessary, including taking pictures and making comparisons AND photoshopping. After a little while - not even a week, I became more relaxed about it and accepting. After just looking at those pictures, funnily enough I could kick myself for being so horrified. I used to look for things that weren't there, and emphasized my asymmetry. I still see certain 'flaws', but they are no where near as bad as I believed beforehand. At times bouts of unhappiness return, and after seeking comparisons with the 'beautiful' actors and models - the assymetry IS there too. We all have it. Everyone - even supermodels. Some had even more obvious 'flaws' than I did - and these people are well-known and hired for their attractive appearance. The evidence is there.
Our worst enemy is ourselves.

Right now I'm trying to accept the way I am, including my slightly askew jaw/chin; it is part of my identity and if it's noticable, yeah people will see - but they'll then move on. Fact: people care more about how they themselves look and could care less about your face. People rarely would take pictures of any of you completely head on to be able to notice anything, and these things just aren't noticable in "real-life" because we're constantly moving, at an angle, consider the lighting etc - which can also distort the way we look. The fact is, every single human being is assymmetrical in some way. I am certain there are many others that have an 'off' chin like me, as have a lazy eye/uneven jawline, including models because I've seen it for myself; which shows it is acceptable, natural, and in no way 'ugly' (aka they are STILL attractive WITH them).

It is the 21st century after all, and if you feel uncomfortable with how you look - it can be fixed; but I'd not recommend it if it is purely cosmetic. I wouldn't consider changing my face if a partner critiqued it - suck that! It obviously didn't bother them to have been attracted to you in the first place - and I garuntee if you take a good look, they'll have a few asymmetrical features here and there aswell that even you haven't noticed (just don't tell them!)

'accept it and move on' is so cliche, but it's significant; a lot of us do just this if we see something noticable in another person's face in the street. By the time you've sat down to dinner, you'll be far more interested in whether you've cooked the chicken throughly, rather than that 'that guy with a triangle head'.

IMO, most, if not all of us beat ourselves up about our own asymetry the most, rather than others. We notice it more, and it affects US not them. After we start to accept this, we will begin to relax. Just remember; asymetry is natural, and all these posts prove that others have it like you and me including models, actors/actresses and those on the '100 most beautiful' lists (I got a bit OCD about my asymetry compared to others ). And if it hasn't affected those considered very attractive, to me, it shows asymmetry is only part of our beauty.

I cant beleve I found people with this same problem. When I look in the mirror straight I think I look great, but for some reason in all my pictures I look horrible. All of my friends tell me to stop thinking about it but it drives insain.. Last year every time I looked at my year book pictures it would make me think that everyone made fun of them.. I almost wanted to just end my life. Also I have found out that my nose is bent and I have A pretty bad lazy eye. My father is every tight on money right now and he wont even consider plastic surgery for me.. Im also 16 years old so maybe this will go away after time? please write me with any help or if you just want to talk to someone with the same problem as you.

I'm a 31 year-old woman. I have to say I also thought I was the only one in the world going through this thing. My story of finding out about my asymmetry is almost identical with a lot of stories I've read in this thread: the thing with double mirror during teenage years, horrible photos while looking good in (one) mirror etc. When I was a teenager, my mother (who is a brutally honest woman) actually noticed and commented on my asymmetry (and if I recall it correctly, she used a word with a meaning closer to 'deformed' in my language...). I kind of denyed it for several years, the truth was too painful...

Well now, I try to describe my asymmetry. The right side of my face (forehead, cheekbone) is wider, kind of fuller, than the left. And it's obviously a problem of the bone structure of my face (or probably my skull, to be more accurate), so I'm afraid there is not much that could be done to improve my face, even if I decided to approach a plastic/cranial surgeon with this problem. It also seems that the facial muscles on the right side are somewhat weaker, but I'm not so sure about that. Because of the size difference of right side and left side, my upper jaw is of course crooked too (and my upper teeth accordingly) which, of course, puts my lower jaw in a crooked position when I put my teeth together. Oh and I definitely have the tmj-problem with some symptomes too.

Strangely enough, I've been told that I'm pretty and beautiful several times in my life and by people I know wouldn't just say something like that out of pitty, nor were they being sarcastic. And I've never been called ugly. But on the other hand I think my asymmetry is fairly noticeable because I sometimes notice some random people (like a cashier in a grocery store etc) taking a second look at me, but this doesn't happen often. Anyway, my asymmetry is not just 'perceived' or imagined. I wish it was.

I think this asymmetry thing has affected my identity. It would actually be weird if it hadn't, considering all the years of trying to deny the whole thing and wondering about how other people see me and not knowing if I'm pretty or downright ugly etc. And I'm not exceptionally vain or a shallow person. But still, it is a big thing. Physical appearance is a major factor in the moulding of a person's identity.

It's good to know that I'm not the only one with this problem, because knowing that there are others and hearing their stories somehow gives me more perspective on how to deal with it.

I'm here again. I wish this topic was a little more active...

I did some research today on the internet and now I'm quite sure that what I have is called hemifacial microsomia. However, I can't be 100% certain, since I DON'T have some of the most typical features of that condition; my ears, eyes and nostrils, for example, are normal (or at least they appear to be normal). My general health has also always been very good. So I don't know.

If I do have hemifacial microsomia, it's probably not hereditary in my case, because, according to the research findings I read about, in hereditary forms the typical hfm ( = hemifacial microsomia)-features are present in some of the patient's family members / close relatives too. And there's no one in my family nor any relatives of mine that have this condition. I'm the only one. So this is good news.

I've decided that I will go to a doctor and ask them about the possibility of hfm in my case. And if I do have it, I could be entitled to a corrective surgical treatment for it, since it's classified as a medical condition. I found out that there ARE some surgical options for improving asymmetry in this condition (hfm).

I'm somewhat nervous about going to a doctor about this, though. I'm afraid s/he will react in a strange way thinking "why haven't she done anything to this thing before?" or "poor girl, she's been unaware of her abnormal face for so long.." or just be kind of puzzled by what I have to say in some way, or something like that. But I have to start it somewhere. Uh, I hate this so much.

Does anyone here know of any other medical conditions that could explain facial asymmetry? Or have some information about hemifacial microsomia or the treatment for it?

Been up all night reading this post.

I have the same effin problem.
The right side of my face looks good, while the left
side looks like crap.
It is really annoying to be good looking on one side, and crap on the other.
Could be worse, looking like crap on both sides.

Anyways, I've begun to notice that the problem lies in my nose and my teeth.
On the right side, the nose seems more firm and more well structured while on the other side, it looks like it has no angle and just drops down.
The problem with my mouth, is that on the right side, it looks as if my mouth is more to the back, relative to the nose.
The left side makes it look like the mouth is more out-ish then it should be.

I sometimes hear I'm good looking.
I sometimes get the feeling from people that I'm ugly

Not to be cocky or braggy or anything, but if my left side looked exactly or atleast closest to my right side I would definatly be modeling material. Frustrating really...

This is why people on TV sometimes say: "Wait, this is my good side..."

okcomputer: i used to be a model and was very confident and then POOF! my face and teeth changed all of a sudden and it was like my whole self image went to s**t. i have had issues ever since i entered high school. i will be 22 next week and im just now considering going through with the procedures to fix my problem. people tell me im pretty all the time, but i still dont take them seriously. if you feel like you are modeling material then keep it up! dont let stupid insecurities get you down. i have allowed that to happen to me for years n it has made me crrrrrrrraaaaazzzyyyy about my appearance.

hey!
im 31 years old guy.
my face is asymetrical more then the avrage and so is my mother face, but i have being modeling and most of the blinde dates i had with guys wanted me and i have being told lots of times(rendomely) that im verry prerrt and i should be a model, i have a friend who told me im the best friend he had that is verry pretty , my mother been told that she is verry hot pretty and more so sorry this is bulshit i have seen guys with high symetrical face that are ugly,its not about symetrical its about the way your face build eyes lips and more.

if symetrical face is more atrractive then why 90% of the blinde dates i hade wanted me and why i have been told that i have amazing eyes nose lips face and so and that i am verry pretty\handsome\beautifull and that i should be a model?

im waiting for your answer.

bye.

every day i look in the double mirror and it helps me to see that my nose is crooked and other crooked stuff in my face.
but the only thing that helps me feeling good with my self is looking in the mirror without the doubel mirror, i see a varry preety uniq face and the scound thing that helps me is thinking about the guys who told me im verry pretty.

i have even been told that i look like a famouse actor who is verry handsome and consider to be a preety boy, and even preetier then him.

so i know my face is more asymetical then the avrage but that is dosnt meen i am ugly or avrage looking.

so we all need to forget about the symetrical, there are lote of ugly guys\girls that there face is verry symetrical.

I can't believe there are actually so many people who have this facial asymmetry. I have never known of anyone besides myself with this condition. I have been to dentists, doctors, oral surgeons, and plastic surgeons in search of answers. I became aware of my lower jaw being uneven (more bone growth on the right side of my jaw) when i was about 16 years old. My doctor said he had never seen anything like it and sent me and my family to a University Hospital where they said I had this and that there was nothing they could do about it until after I was finished growing. I did not have any pain at the time and they suggested I had been born with this, but I had fallen from a two story building prior to noticing this and could have possible broken my jaw and never had medical attention at the time. However, I am now 29 and have began having alot of migranes and continuous pain in my neck and jaw that seems to spread into that back of my head. I can't seem to find any doctors who will accept my insurance (Medicaid at the time) and have been sent to offices that have no knowledge about facial asymmetry at all. Like the rest of you, I have had many of compliments about my beauty and people never seem to notice unless I point it out, but there are times I become so depressed and self conscious, especially when I have to give oral presentations. For the most part I am happy with my appearance, but worry more about my health, because I have not been given any answers about what caused this, or why I am now in so much pain, or if this could cause any other health issues I need to be concerned about. If anyone knows of a specialist who deals with this in MI, please let me know. Thanks for all your stories..

maybe in israel, i am from israel and it is known that israel is nown by her medicine try it.

other then that, maybe it psychosomaticץ.
did the doctores had ultrasound to see what is the problem?

mine problem is only psychological.

like i wish i looked diffrent then i do.
even thow i have been told im verry pretty and more.

Same here. Not that it really bothers me much, - just curious regarding the mirror effect. As you grow older, you'll find that this makes you more unique and interesting. Nothing wrong with a man that looks like he was punched by by Mike Tyson a few times, as long as the facial expression reveals that he punched back.

Same here. Not that it really bothers me much, - just curious regarding the mirror effect. As you grow older, you'll find that this makes you more unique and interesting. Nothing wrong with a man that looks like he was punched by by Mike Tyson a few times, as long as the facial expression reveals that he punched back.

for me it's my right that isn't formed all the way. my friend had a surgery in highschool because one side of her face didnt develop the whole way and he other side was trying to "make up for it" by growing too much. the surgery was HORRIBLE with braces and blood and ugh, just awful she even ended up for a couple of days in the ICU because of an infection. i never noticed a damn thing wrong with her, but have now started to see a problem within myself. its like my left jaw keep growing and my right side is smushed in, looking like it didnt develop correctly. surgery really is the only option. but its so expensive, insurance doesnt cover and its like a 1 in 3 chance somethign can go wrong. i wish i didnt have this..

for me my mouth is really messed up and im going to a plastic surgeon for consultation after i told my doctor. like most people its like the right side is shorter than the left. besides my lips and the whole placement of my mouth the right side of my head is rounder atleast around the temple area and my cheeks. my right eyebrow is abit different i would say uglier than my left. basically i guess the left side is rounder and while the right side is more flat. my teeth actually straight and i dont see anything obvious with my jaw either which is weird because most people with assymtrical faces tend to apoint that. if i atleast get my mouth done i guess its not that bad because yeah alot of girls told me im cute but its still really hard to live and accept something tormenting you and that you could actually change...

I have the same problem!!! the right side of my jaw looks bigger than my left!! I'm so glad that I am not alone and maybe something can be done about it.

hi to everyone..thanx for the posts.i have been thinking the same way as many of u about my face.i had a bad but symmetrical looking face probabaly jus an year ago.all my old pics looked normal.but since then i have been trying to puff my cheeks by smiling a lot(as some of my friend suggested)
I have to say..it really worked.i was once an ordinary looking guy..but for the past 8 months or so.was great for me.many girls were back of me.everyone was literally jealous saying u r confident jus coz u look smart.

but now its all asymmetry in my face.my left side is soo perfect but my right side is full of flwas..it looks someone hit it with a stone..my cheek bone on left is flattened i feel n when i wake up in the morning n c at myself in a single mirror..awww..i feel like i was much better with a ordinary face without asymmetry..please somebody help me what to do about this

Hey all!

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that I too was not alone in my asymmetrical woes. I have lots of definition on the left side of my face, making it look sculpted and contoured... however, to me, my right side is just.. ROUND and puffy almost. I've asked lots of people if they even see it and even my mother can't even tell. But -I- do, and I want to feel condfident, dammit!

I have been googling things to help even out my face for a while. At some point I came upon the art of face excersises. I have been doing some ("facercise") for a bit over a week and I notice some very subtle changes already happening. I really hope dramatic changes happen in the long run..

Maybe you guys should look into good/affordable face exercise programs for you.. a lot of them come in DVD's and books. I hope this is the thing that finally works for us !! Surgery does not seem like the fun route, for my low pain tolerance and my wallet hehe

Love yourselves best you can!!
<3

Oh! and another thing... using makeup to "shade" in areas of the face can contour and give the illusion of definition. If you have uneven definition, study the areas that capture light and the areas that leave a shadow. Replicate the light by using a light cover-up color, and the shadow by using a color much darker than your skin tone. It can help enormously, especially for head-on photos.

Also, google pictures of the stunning Katie Holmes and check out her smile. Not symmerical at all.

She's NOT ugly by any stretch of the imagination.. and neither are any of you!

Okay, now I'm done!!