How Long Do I Have to Wait After Taking out Infected Nasal Implant Before I Can Have Revision Surgery?

If your own rib cartilage is being used for the reconstruction it is typically OK to remove the infected silicone and use rib cartilage at the same time

I recently treated a Phillipina patient that had an infected silicone implant in the bridge of her nose, without removing the implant. She presented to my office with a painless red swelling on the bridge of her nose many years folowing Rhinoplasty Surgery in the Phillipines. She had a localized abscess (collection of pus) that required drainage twice in the office; and she required a full month of antibiotic by mouth.

I advised my patient during our initial consultation that removal of the implant would be necessary if these conservative measures were not successful in eliminating her nasal swelling, redness, and purulence.

If you need to have your implant removed, this should be done as an isolated procedure. When your infection resolves,and and when your post-surgical swelling is gone, you can decide what to do. If your bridge needs to be raised, you could consider a Non-Surgical Rhinoplasty with Injectable Fillers. My personal preference is Silikon-1000 for permanent results. Silikon-1000 does not work well for projecting your tip.

If any of my colleagues wish to learn more about my experience with Silikon-1000, I am giving an instructional cours in Boston at the upcoming Fall Meeting of The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS). The course is titled "Off-Label Applications of Liquid Injectable Silicone (LIS)", and I will be presenting on 9/24/2010 at 4pm. Common conditions treated include: volume replacement, wrinkle reduction, lip enhancement, acne scarring, and correction of many nasal irregularities (“Non-Surgical Rhinoplasty”). I will also be describing the serial puncture, microdroplet technique that is essential for achieving desired results.
 

All the best from NJ.

There is great controversy in regards to this topic and it is likely you will get several different opinions. Obviously getting a rib graft is a major surgery and you want to do this under optimal conditions. Once a graft is removed, it is essentially dead and depends on the recpient site for blood supply. If that site is contaminated the graft could become infected. Some would immeadiately replace the cartilage with graft, but in my opinion, I would wait for a minimum of 3 months and possibly use antibiotics based on cultures taken from the  procedure.