Go in for a facial contouring consultation and cheekbones and jaw almost always come up as a set.
"Your cheekbones are a bit prominent, and it would be worth looking at the jaw together."
Apply both and the difference is certainly bigger. But when one change might be enough, it's hard to tell which one you actually need.
So we applied cheekbones only, and then jaw only, to the same face. Not cumulative: each starts from the original.
Cheekbones only
What changes is the upper half of the face. The side line running from below the eyes toward the front of the ear moves inward.
From the front, the upper face narrows and the impression softens. But the lower face stays put, so if your lower face was wide to begin with, it can stand out more by comparison.
Jaw only
What changes is the lower half. The jaw angle and jawline move inward, narrowing the lower face.
Measured, jaw width changed by about −0.7%, while the cheekbone numbers stayed essentially the same. And when only the cheekbones were changed, the jaw numbers didn't move. The two operations change different places.
Side by side
How to tell which one is your issue
In a mirror or a frontal photo, look for this.
- If the widest point of your face sits near eye level → cheekbones
- If the widest point sits below mouth level → lower jaw
- If top and bottom are about equally wide → both are candidates, but the usual approach is to do one first and then judge
If the cheekbones are what bother you and you reduce only the jaw, the upper face can end up looking relatively wider. The reverse holds too.
Is doing both clearly better?
Applying both does move furthest from the original. As this comparison shows, the two change different places, so combined they can read as the whole face getting smaller.
If that's the direction you wanted, it's a real option. If what you want is "just a light touch-up," it can be too much. Cheekbone and jaw reduction are among the operations with long recoveries that are hard to reverse.