Will Medpor Nose Implant Hold for a Lifetime?

Hello,
There are many better ways to build up your bridge and tip other than Medpor. I usually use rib cartilage with the tissue covering called perichondrium. I will also use cartilage from the septum if there is enough, and ear cartilage as well. The best is the rib cartilage. It is always best to use natural tissue rather then an implant Hope this helps answer your question. Please see my profile for my contact information, and feel free to send any photos to my office where I wull evaluate them for you. Thank you, and best of luck.
Dr. Nassif

Medpor may hold up for your lifetime, but it does carry a risk of exposure. If this occurs, it will most likely need to be removed and replaced with either rib cartilage, ear cartilage, Medpor, or silione. Talk with your surgeon about the use of ear cartilage or rib cartilage. They carry a much lower risk of infection and exposure, and are safely performed daily. Good luck!

 This is not the best choice for you in my opinion based on 30 years of rhinoplasty surgery. You have plenty of tissue yourself in your septum and ears. This is a much better choice. See an experienced rhinoplasty surgeon to have another opinion.

There are many autologous implants that have been used successfully in dorsal augmentation for rhinoplasty. I prefer to use septal, ear, and in more extreme cases, which one might encounter in an Asian nose, I prefer rib cartilage. Medpor, silicone, and gortex have very good safety profiles but, they never become part of you and are always susceptible to injury or infection. In the case of medpor, this can be a difficult problem to treat without removing the graft. I know of many surgeons who have used this material without incident, but, I would doubt any of them have had a thirty year follow up.

It is possible but not likely. More importantly it ican be very difficult to remove because your tissues grow into it. Your best option is to proceed with your own tissue using septal, conchal, costal cartilage (in that order) or possily calvarial or iliac crest bone grafts. There are plenty of other implants including irradiated cadaver rib cartilage or a variety of alloplastic materials such as silicone or gortex.

A Medpor implant should hold up throughout the lifetime of the nose as long as it does not get infected in the initial postoperative period. Silastic implants also work quite well in the nose and do not degrade over time.

 An implant that is not your own tissue may or may not last a lifetime. There are other solutions for nasal augmentation. Rib cartilage, septal , or ear cartilage harvesting are good options or other products like irradiated cartilage.

Dear Lily,
Probably not.
Medpore implants are among the best tolerated implants because their porous nature allows your blood vessels to grow into the implant and make it more like a part of your body. This makes them less apt to move than silicone elastomers which become surrounded by scar tissue but are not fixated to the underlying structures.
Another item the goes in your favor is that Asian skin IS thicker than Caucasian skin and is generally better able to tolerate an underlying implant. As a result, it is common in the Far East for surgeons to augment the classic low dorsum Asian nose with a silicone L shaped implant AND for it to last a long time in many cases. (This is usually not possible in most western noses where the implants quickly erode through the nose skin and become exposed and infected).
That being said - we are all different and have different - yet to be discovered karmas and futures. There is NO WAY to predict, much less, guarantee that your Porex nose implant would last 5 months or 50 years.
I agree with my colleagues, Drs. Placik and Rand, that if you wanted to stack longevity and durability, your graft should come from YOUR body.
Good Luck.

Hi,

I have been performing Ethnic rhinoplasty for the last 15 years. Many if not all of my ethnic patients request nasal augmentation. I believe that the best implant in my hands is a custom carved silastic implant. Siliastic implants are easily shaped, carved and can be removed under local anasthesia if necessary. Medpor implants are hard and difficult to work with. They are also very hard to remove if they get infected. Medpor nasal implants don't look natural. Depending on how much augmentations needs to be done, surgeons may also use cartilage grafts and/or gortex grafts. A lot also has to do with how the implant is placed in the nose by the surgoen. This will dictate if the implant moves or gets infected. Below is a link to my site where you can see many before and afters of custom carved silicone nasal implants.

Best,

Dr.S.

I have performed Rhinoplasty for over 20 years and have seen all sorts of material used to build up the nasal bridge. I prefer using a silastic nasal implant ( not L shaped) because it is inert, won't dissolve and can be removed should you ever decide to do so. Medpore can become integrated into your nasal bone which would make it impossible to remove should it shift prior to that point....or if you simply decided to take it out later for any reason.