Is It Possible To Use A Real Bone Implant For Cheeks Vs. A Synthetic?

Cheek implants correct flat cheeks vs. fillers or bone at the lowest cost with the best results. Silicone implants can have an infection at the time of surgery, but this is quite not common.

I don't know of many surgeons who would use bone for cheek augmentation. Obtaining symmetric shape, position and survival of the graft is a huge task. This is one area where synthetic implants usually do well if positioned and secured properly. Alternatively fillers can often provide a nice substitute without surgical risk.

Sybthetic implants are the best choice for cheek augmentation in the long run. Placing them during your lower jaw surgery would be a perfect opportunity to have it done. I don't know why your surgeon would make that statement about cheek implants as that has not been my experience or the experience of most plastic surgeons. Perhaps your surgeon is just not familiar with doing them or has limited experience. I most certainly would not use or harvest bone as an alternative to cheek implants. Onlay bone grafts will undergo complete resorption when placed on top of the cheek bones, not to mention that it would be impossible to get a really good shape to the bone graft.

I do not recommend harvesting bone from your hip or thigh for cheek augmentation because this is a very difficult, involved procedure. Although there is a slight risk of infection with silastic cheek implants, this is very rare and these implants offer a permanent solution, rather than fillers, most of which are not permanent.

I have performed many cheek augmentation procedures using fillers and cheek implants and IMHO, this would not offer any real advantage to using the silastic cheek implants.  In fact, harvesting the bone and creating the proper aesthetic shape from that harvested bone would be near impossible, IMO.  Go for the silastic cheek implants.

Hi.

1)  As you can see, there are different opinions.  I personally think cheek implants are almost obsolete, because there is a high incidence of problems with them.  They can be very difficult to remove  or reposition, and they may not age well.

2)  You can get nice  "apple cheeks"  much more easily and safely with well done fillers or with fat transfer. Radiesse applied deeply against  the cheek bones is just an office visit, and the result lasts at least three years.

3)  Your own bone graft is too invasive, and the results could be unpredictable.  I would not recommend that.