Do Cheek Implants Feel Like Natural Cheeks?

The overall satisfaction of RealSelf patients for cheek augmentation is 50%.  Not stellar.  Why is this?

In my opinion, cheek implants have certain inherent problems. 

First, cheek implants are made of plastic, and are palpable.  The larger they are, the more obtrusive and palpable they become.  Cheek implants made of bone like materials are very difficult to adjust if the patient is not happy with them; however they are typically not palpable at all.  If the patient is not happy with a cheek implant, it is usually possible to remove or replace it readily, an advantage of the plastic cheek implant.

I have seen many patients who have had multiple redos of their cheek implants, searching for perfection or absolute symmetry.

Too bad they did not know it would never occur in their faces.

Cheeks are NEVER absolutely symmetrical, nor are the eyes in the eye sockets.  Nor are the brows.  Patients are often focused on absolute symmetry of their cheek implants, but this ignores that often the eye bone, the globe (eyeball), brow position and often the entire side of the face are not symmetrical. 

It takes a very artistic eye to anticipate and balance the effect that bringing out the flatter cheek will cause.  If you bring out the flatter cheek, the deeper set eye can suddenly appear even deeper.  Oops.

In our practice, we prefer soft tissue augmentation with autologous fat-fascial grafts (LiveFill) for augmenting cheeks because the graft material is soft and does not feel artificial.  As with any graft, however, there is a possibility the graft would not survive or would be lumpy.

For older patients, and even for patients in their 40's, significant redistribution of facial fat and fibrous tissues has occurred.  A facelift with volume adjustment is preferable to plastic implants in our practice.  Nowadays, such procedures can be performed without the usual pulled appearance from a high lateral pull facelift.

Sorry for the long answer to your question, but each and every component of this analysis is important when analyzing the cheeks.

Cheek implants are an excellent way to augment a flat cheek profile. They are placed under local or general anesthesia. They are inserted through the mouth on the top of the upper tooth roots and placed directly over the bone and underneath the periosteum layer. The patient will not be able to feel them if placed in the right anatomical position. Within a month after the procedure there are no activity restrictions whatsoever. Feel free to engage in sports activities. The implants themselves feel very natural and the implant acts as a bony augmentation.  

As with all cosmetic procedures it is important to find a surgeon who has done a number of these procedures. Cheek implants yield esthetically exscellent results. Women do look better with a well defined high cheek bones. The commonest material uised is a semi firm silastic (silicone) , the same that is used for chin implants and has been around for decades and stood the test of time well. When propoerly placed and properly sized it blends imperceptibly and after a few weeks of healing it should feel natural and part of the anatomic cheek bone.  As with all procedures there is always a small risk of complications but in experienced hands this should be minimal.