Can Cheek Implants Replace a Cheek Lift?

For unique cases where a variety of modalities could be used to treat the condition, I would suggest an in person or virtual consultation to develop a custom and effective treatment plan. It is difficult to precisely define the best option without collecting the same information. I suggest reaching out to an expert for a consultation with surgical and non-surgical methods to get a comprehensive option. Best, Dr. Emer.

A cheek (or "malar") implant does completely different things than a cheek lift. Implants are used to significantly increase the volume and shape of the cheekbones. Patients who are good candidates for cheek implants are usually younger and were born with flat or even pushed-back cheekbones (Sylvester Stallone is a good example.) Their eyes can look bulging as a result because they don't have muchd cheek volume. On the other hand, cheek lifts are used to elevate sagging soft tissues back over normal-sized cheekbones. Since sagging occurs with age, good candidates tend to be in their 50's or older, and need a face/neck lift as well.  Think of both of these surgeries as treating extreme situations of either deficient cheek volume (needing implants), or very loose and sagging tissues (needing a lift). However, surgery is on one extreme end of the spectrum where very few people lie - most people lie somewhere in the gray area of aging or hollow cheeks. Easy, no down-time procedures to give some subtle improvements in volume or shape to the cheeks can often do the trick. In experienced hands (i.e. a board certified plastic surgery or aesthetic dermatologist), injectable fillers like Juvederm, Radiesse, or Sculptra can effectively contour the cheeks and act like a small implant. Regular use can even delay the need for surgery. 

Cheek implants correct flat cheeks:cheek lifts lift sagging skin. If you don't have much sagging with large naso-labial depressions, then you can have cheek implants.  

You are on the right track.  A major reason for cheek sagging is deflation (or loss of volume) of the cheek, therefore replacing that volume with cheek implants (or filler injection) can "lift" the cheeks.  The effect of implant is also more permanent than if you had a cheek lift surgery.

Dr Taban

Cheek implants are better than a cheek lift.  The aging process causes loss of volume in the face, so lifting won't help.  Cheek implants replace the volume loss over time.  They are inserted thru an intro-oral approach and are paced directly over the maxillary bone.  For examples please see our website

I strongly believe that a volume loss plays a big part of aging in the cheek area. Cheek lifts in my opinion to do what you want. It doesn't reverse the aging process in the correct order and manner by which you aged.  There is a process of aging or pattern that is not reversed by traditional procedures.

Cheek Implants are intended to FILL and add volume to the cheeks. Although they may provide a small lift vector that is not their goal. A Cheek Lift is an procedure which corrects sagging. While the two types of procedure have a minor overlap, one should not be used in place of another.

As an aside with fillers and fat grafting being refined, cheek implants along with their potential downsides (cost, infection, need for fixation, rotation, nerve damage etc) have become considerably less attractive.

Dr. Peter Aldea

While it may seem that both procedures give the same end result, in many cases that is not the case.

If your cheeks are underdeveloped, then implants would be a more appropriate choice. However, if your cheek tissue has descended due to aging, a cheek lift would reposition the tissue back to the right place. An implant in this situation may result in an unnatural appearance.

See a Board Certified plastic surgeon for a complete evaluation since these two procedures are not always interchangeable.

Cheek implants and a cheek lift  will both improve cheek projection and contour. A cheek lift is the procedure of choice in a patient who has sagging of the skin and muscle causing fullness of the mid-cheek and increased depth of the crease between the nose and the corner of the mouth.