Is it safe to put a filler on top of a chin implant?

Thank you for your question. You’re asking if it is safe to put a filler on top of a chin implant.
I can share what I explain to my patients who ask similar questions in our practice. A little background: I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon. I have been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years. Placement of chin implants is fairly routine in our practice, as well fillers that are very effective in creating similar outcomes in a method we call Structural Volumizing.
The reason I want to elaborate further on the question besides just saying yes or no is there are some important issues to resolve so to get a predictable and safe outcome. Number one is that chin implants are placed in a particular level of the bone called the subperiosteum. This is a layer of very tough tissue on top of the bone called the periosteum. The implant is placed between that tough tissue, the periosteum, the bone, then fixated. Basically, a capsule eventually forms around the implant. When you are placing injectable fillers, you have options for the level where those injectable fillers are placed.
One of the challenges we have to consider in your particular situation is whether or not the filler would actually make a difference. Sometimes when people have a chin implant, and there is a very tight space between the skin and the implant, the placement of a filler will not likely make a dramatic change. That’s something to be very mindful of, especially when you are placing the filler at a deeper level. Now if there are some soft tissue like the area below the skin where there’s room for movement, then placing filler in that space is feasible.
I think the take home message is the safety is in minimizing the possibility of infection. The implant itself does not have a blood supply., so when you are placing a filler from the skin through the skin, you have to be sure that the bacteria on the skin surface does not have an opportunity to go in at the same level of the implant by practicing as much sterility as appropriate.
When we do Structural Volumizing in our practice, what we are doing essentially, whether there’s a facial implant in place or not, we treat the procedure like surgery. Our preparation is as if we are doing surgery using different types of antiseptics such as Betadine to make sure that the skin surface is bacteria free as is possible, employing very specific sterile techniques to place the filler using blunt cannulas. We are placing this material between the bone structure, or in your case, the implant and the muscle. That provides a very nice sculpting effect that creates a very natural look. Very often, we’ll also fill the soft tissue between that space and the skin.
The take home message here is that the safety is there, but you have to be fastidious about minimizing the risk of infection. There are sometimes indications where we put someone on antibiotics just to cover those bases. Every case is individualized.
So I think that the short answer to your question, yes it’s technically safe to put filler on top of an implant, but there is a potential riskof the presence of a foreign body in your anatomy to minimize the risk of infection so that you get a good and safe outcome.
So I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question.

Thank you for your question. Yes, it is safe to use filler on top of a chin implant. Be sure to inform your surgeon of the implant.

Yes it is safe to put filler on top of an implant, but it's important to inform your Doctor that you do have an implant there so that they can take the necessary precautions with the technique they intend to use.