Asymmetry is so weird! In the mirror I think I look fine, but when it's reversed, NO. HORRIBLE!

I'm certain I have an asymmetrical jaw, my teeth and mouth are very crooked.

I was hoping jaw surgery would not have to be the case but I'm thinking so..

AH!

sounds like you guys have mild hemi-atrophy

mouth slanted upwards to the right, check.
right cheek bone smaller making your whole midface look different, check.
eyebrow smaller and shaped differently, check.
right side of forehead smaller than the other, check.
so anyone know what it would cost to do some of the procedures neccessary. we have free healthcare over here in norway but its not like ur gonna get it done anytime soon so i think ill start working so i can pay for my own operations. anyone has gone through with this or could post some results?

What a tremendous site. Can't believe there are so many people going through exactly what I am.
I'm a rather older guy, but look considerably younger than I am, and still go out to bars and clubs looking for my dream girl. However, I finally realized I've been living an illusion for all these years. That illusion being what I see everyday in the mirror - a fairly decent looking guy.
But then the double mirror thing reveals something totally different, but something I optimistically dismissed a while ago as some kind of distortion. But it is hard to dismiss what photos reveal - something downright hideous.
And like most of you, I'm in a quandary
And still partially submersed in denial, I would go on thinking that all I had to do was contort my jaw in such a way when out in public to correct it. So whenever it came time for a new ID photo, I would contort my jaw in a different manor, hoping to see a favorable result - but none was ever forthcoming.
And like most of you, I'm in a quandary, wondering what the hell I really look like! I wish I could grab a hold of my eyeballs and stretch them out to catch a glimpse what I really look like.
I've accepted the fact that both sides of my face are different, and I'm cool with that. I figure hey, someone's getting two looks for the price of one! If she gets tired of looking at one side of me, she can just tell me to turn around. But what bothers me is what I must look like straight on with a radically crooked mouth.
Now I don't know if this is genetic (haven't gone back to examine any childhood photos yet) or if it stems from the loss of my left front tooth playing hockey when I was about 12. But it seems as though it's the mandible that is lower on my right side causing my mouth to slant down that way. I think that if you could just lower the hinge on my left mandible a little, everything would be corrected. I've searched around my mouth with my tongue for an adjustment screw but haven't located it yet. There should be one right? I don't have the $ or insurance for surgery.
Then again, maybe it could be a TMJ thing because I do get this strange tightening of the side of my head (more about that later).
Anyway, I recently discovered that if I pucker my lips together a little to make my mouth more oval, it is much less noticeable. But heaven forbid I should meet a nice girl and have to open my mouth and talk to her! What would I do?
I thought I met the girl of my dreams several months ago. She always gave me a wave and big smile, and seemed to want to touch me a lot, but always seemed reluctant to look me straight on and talk to me.
So for now on, it's only a nod or shake of the head. Women always want to do most of the talking anyway, right? If she wants me to say anything, she can close her eyes, or converse with me sitting in a car or something. Or better yet, we can just sit there starring at each other and texting!
I’ll post some pics tomorrow.

Hi,

I have the same problem with my face, one side looking stronger than the other. I know there are surgeries that can be done, very costly and would take a long period of time. I decided to try another route. Face fillers, Juvederm and Restyline, I saw a plastic surgeon, he was looking at my face, noticed is was lop sided, so he took the filler and filled in the areas that looked less fuller, this doctor took long but he tried to make it my face look better. He used filler under my eyes, my cheeks, jawline, along my mouth, around my nose, lips also around my eyebrows,on my right eyebrow used alittle botox, to let the muscle relax so it doesn't look pulled down. Overall results, I'm very happy, cost $2000 cdn. I was ready for my bro's wedding, not afraid to talk to people or take pictures, everyone was that I looked great, they couldn't put a finger on it, asked if I lost weight or what did I do that I look good. I never told my mom about the fillers she just said my face looks puffy after the procedure, she said it looks different, i told her I had seen the dentist. My mother never cared to help me with my facial problems. My age 38,look great, feeling confident, face looks more symmetrical in the mirror, only one issue now, I need to upkeep every 6 months or so depending on the areas of the filler. I don't mind it at all if I have to do it for life! and also I look young, no one can believe my age, another bonus! Hope this gives some hope to you all. Don't give up!

It's been very helpful to find this forum. I have the right side of my face more grown and full.My aunt was the first to notices it, and I guess the people who are used to see you every day don't notice your flaws, even me, I used to perceive myself just fine. Later my dentist point it out because my bite was crooked. Since then I got really sad. At the end, my dentist finished the braces treatment, and send me to a maxillofacial doctor. I had done a surgery, a reshaping of my jaw, like a camouflage. I have seen some improvement, but still the left side is less fuller. I am starting to accept myself and focus in other stuff, otherwise I get down, because it's hard when I see pictures of myself and still see my asymmetric jaw.

I felt with the type of surgery that I got was going to fix my insecurity but is another kind of process that I have to go through. Also people see is the confidence, security and personality above any physical details someone might have. I said this to myself most of the days and have a couple of nice results.
I have two question: Has somebody have done the Orthognatic surgery, the one that brakes the jaw into four pieces? What results did they get, I mean, does it fix the problem? (I'm just curious, my doctor didn't present me this option, maybe in my case, he has his medical reason)
anjalina777 - It's nice to have other options, I will consult with a plastic surgeon. Does the filler have secondary effects?

I am thee most assymetrical person on the planet. my face, my arms, and my legs. over time it gets worse and it causes me to be very unhealthy. The only way I have been able to hide it is through eating a high carb high fat diet and filling in the unsightliness. I have lost many relationships because of this and now I am struggling for the last time. I am trying to regain some weight and look decent but it is impossible. My family doesn't want me around because I look paranoid and dangerous and I look extremely drung when I stand for long periods of time. I even had someone who hated me put me on a special diet without knowing what it was going to do to me and now I see no hope.

I have 3 family members who are pretending to help out and they are actually waiting for me to screw up. My own "best friend" screwed with me for 2 weeks while I struggled to understand what was going on and when I returned home I visited her parents to ask them why she was doing this and two days later when I was supposed to arrive at her home again my "best friend" was there and called the police on me and told them I was trying to "hurt" her parents.
I want to live and be a part of society but because of my extreme ugliness on the outside people are only just nice to me and if I get confused about what I want at the store because my head bobbles back and forth they become rude to me.
I fear that I will end up in prison, in an insane asylum, dead, or out in the street soon. My relative who is "in charge" at the moment knows whats going on because I have told him and I have went to the aid of old friends past but they screw with my head and play games treating me as if I have a mental problem when in fact I have anxiety from the fact that I am so very assymetrical.
I have read all the reports on google about how symmetry makes you a better lover and a smarter healthier individual and that is why I have failed at everything I do. My reletive who is in charge is supposed to take me to my psychiatrist soon but I don't know what I am supposed to tell her. tell her I am assymetrical? what can she do? My relative says he thinks I am bipolar otr I'm not on the right meds but he knows what's wrong. I am the only person on the planet that doesn't have a friend or who can go see their parents. I would like to here from anyone who has a similiar problem but I doubt this is so because I believe in my heart of hearts that I am the only one.

i have been suffering from this asymetrical face problem for sometime. i even now have a lot of pain on the left side of my face, which is streched out too much. where can i find surgery for this problem? i think when you start feeling pain in your face due to this problem then it becomes a healthcare issue for which there should be some remedy available. i guess many of you don't realize that it's more than just a cosmetic issue. if you ignore this problem for too long than it may get worse in old age. is there any serious remedy available for this problem. our head is one of the most important parts of our body, which includes our brain and month(with which we chew). i am dying a to find a doctor that can help me out.

Wow I certainly did not expect to find so many people with the exact problem that's been plaguing since I was a teenager. Basically I started noticing that my face was horrendously asymmetrical probably like most people while looking at double mirrors.

By age 15 and progressing up until today 27, it has completely destroyed my confidence. The right side of my face, seems to be tighter, better defined and with a sharper jaw line, while the left looks swollen (even the jaw is heavier and lower while my cheek is bigger and my nose is more rounder and even my eye is droopy).

I always take photos from the right side and it makes me feel like a freak. I'm not sure why no one has ever said anything to me directly, although some ex's have said that 'symmetry is beautiful'... I've had my fair share of women find me attractive, and likewise have also had my fair share find me unattractive.

Basically it's been driving me insane , I wish there was some way to fix it. I have a feeling it's something developing from birth, although I used to chew and sleep mainly on one side

Wow.. I didn't expect so many people to have this same problem. Although I'm so sure mine is worse than all of yours!
Since junior school my jaw has gradually started moving to the right and slightly forward. I'm 18 now and it has stopped growing. It looks terrible. I'm very self conscious due to this and my smile is just plain ugly. A lot of people tell me it's cute ("ugly but interesting" perhaps?)

Anyway, this is caused by the abnormal growth of the tissue in the jaw joint which is why my jaw is severely pushed to the right.

I'm getting surgery in about a year, thus there is a solution for those who have this same problem!
I had to get lots of x-rays, bone scans, etc.
They will be cutting the left side of my face to remove the excess tissue at my left jaw joint. I CAN'T WAIT!

Btw. I recommend visiting an orthodontist.

Oh..and I don't understand this whole "double mirror" issue. Seriously, if most of you only notice it in a double mirror than it must not be that bad! I can see the asymmetry of my face (due to my jaw) clearly by looking into a normal mirror.
A few people have even said things like "No offence...but what's wrong with your um.." and they they continue to touch their own jaw to depict my jaw problem. It's THAT bad! I casually respond and tell them my problem when inside I feel extremely self-conscious. I have never seen someone with the same level of asymmetry as my face.

I also forgot to add that I am getting it operated by a ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL surgeon.

Some useful info:

"Oral and maxillofacial surgery is surgery to correct a wide spectrum of diseases, injuries and defects in the head, neck, face, jaws and the hard and soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial region. It is a recognized international surgical specialty."

i'm 35 now.....only really noticed my problem of a jaw that is uneven on side when i hit 18....don't know what happened but it seems like i have extra jawbone or something.

well....the more i notice it the more self concious i get...the more down i get. To me it seems quite significant although only 1 person has actually pointed it out to me when i asked them if they noticed anything different about me. I had actually been referring to a zit.....hehe

I approached my dentist last time i was there and asked if there was something i could do about this and they were then going to refer me to a maxilofacial surgeon...my teeth seem to be in alignment but there is extra bone on one side (the jaw seems thicker) so i don't have a clue what the surgeon would be able to do or how they could remove that ???

Is there anyone that knows what they would do in a situation like that. There is a girl at work who had a crooked jaw and they cut around the whole top and bottom of the jaw and somehow realigned everything....but my teeth aren't misaligned.....it just seems to be this extra bone....grrrrrrr

I guess for me i'd like to get something done about it if i can....no matter how old i am...i've been a gym junkie for the last 18 years, don't think i look my age and would love to get this assymetry thing out of my mind and feel more confident.

Would love to hear from someone who has actually gone through the surgery.....

no one is perfect....

: )

Hi Everyone,

I also have an asymetry problem with my face and I had orthonagtic surgery on July 6, 2009. I have a perfect bite now, but as far as the asymetry goes, I think it looked worse than before. I also had an infection and had to go through another

I feel like all the swelling has come down, and the aymetry is worse than before. My doctor said to wait for a few more months before he can do any kind of implant to even out my face. I'm hoping that something like Juvederm will help so I don't have to go through another surgery. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

Thanks

I also have an asymetrical face..well jaw more or less and my nose is slightly turned but usually even I can't notice it. My right side is far more attractive than my left, in my opinion. I've asked friends if they notice it and they've all told me no and thought I was a nut lol.

Honestly going through 2 years of posts I would say to most; its probably not noticable to other people at all. It's true, you are your own worst crtic. You'll notice every little thing wrong about yourself but really it's not worth the torture. I'm only 18 and I've become so obsessed with the crookedness of my jaw it's wearing my out! My conclusion is it's just not worth the fret and definately not the money to fix, plus theres no guarantee the doctor will get it right.

Trust me, sometimes pictures just suck. You'll always look better in real, cameras capture every little thing (unfortunately). If noone is staring at you like you've just stepped out of a swamp (weird metaphor) then you're fine. And if people tell you your attractive, youre attractive. Case closed.

I met this guy at a bonfire once, stunning guy and (lucky me) he sat next to my "good side" but even after than we hung out a few times and he obviously didn't even notice it having, by then, sat on both sides of me. He still called me cute, pretty etc. and he was exactly the type to be very picky.

People see people differently, you know yourself and all your little faults but I guarantee its just you. And no-one except maybe the occasional creeper is going to stare so deeply at your face and features that they'll notice. They have their own flaws to worry about because 99% of people don't absolutely love every little thing about themselves.

Don't let your jaw ruin your life, after reading these and seeing some pictures (that werent asymetrical at all!)I've realized its nowhere close to worrying about.

I hope I helped some