Have you heard of patients having immune reactions to solid lip implants?

Hello,Silastic Lip Implants (Perma Facial/Surgisil) are made of a material that is inert from the standpoint of the immune system.  What this means is that you can not generate a rejection reaction to it.  It is likely that your problem is from a "biofilm".  Any foreign material in your body can harbor bacteria on the surface.  Your immune system has difficulty killing this thin layer because it, for lack of a better description, can only attack from one side.  The result of a biofilm is a very low-level inflammatory reaction that may be temporarily eliminated by antibiotic use.  Developing symptoms of inflammation a few weeks after the procedure is consistent with a biofilm problem.  I doubt that even long-term high-dose antibiotic therapy will every totally eradicate the biofilm.  Meaning that when you eventually stop the antibiotic, the inflammation will return.  Typically, the answer to this problem is to remove the implant.  It is my recommendation that you have the implant removed sooner rather than later because chronic inflammation can cause a tough fibrous shell to form.  This fibrous shell may result in a persistent problem even after the implant (and biofilm) are removed.  Once the implant is removed and you are given sufficient time to fully resolve any problems, you can consider putting an implant back in and trying a second time for success.  Regards,Dr. A

 Hi, I have performed many lip augmentations over the past 30 years using dermal fillers and various lip implants.  Silastic facial implants (lip implant, cheek implants, chin implant) are inert and would not cause an autoimmune reaction.  If a permanent lip silastic implant was used, there is some other (not immune reaction related) reason for the lip infection.  Hope this helps.