Can a Silicone Jaw Implant become Infected or Rejected After Many Years?

Facial Implants can become infected years after implantation.  This is not common  but can occur with medpore or silicone implants.  I personally prefer medpore implants over silicone for jaw angle reshaping.  These implants are secured with  a surgical screw and can provide significant augmentation to  jaw angle and can be placed in conjuction with chin implants.       

There are two types of jaw implants, one on the chin on ones on the sides of the jaws. The ones on the sides are more likely to get infected immediately after the procedure. I have patients consult with me who have gotten infections later on after trauma. One patient had to get them removed. There are ways to save your implants but you have to go to someone experienced.
 

A silicone jaw implant is inert, so to become infected many years after the procedure is exceedingly rare.  In over 20 years of private practice, we have never seen this.  However, we have seen infected Medpore implants and do not recommend them.  Since silicone jaw implants are inert and not porous (Medpore implants are porous), they cannot harbor bacteria and rarely ever get infected.

Late infections of any type of implants are possible, but chin implants are fairly stable after a short period of time.  It does not mean they cannot become infected because any implant in the body has some level of risk of infection.  However, chin implants are fairly low risk of infection when placed through the submental approach.  When placed intraorally, it may be a different story.

You can have an infection from any type of implant.  If you like your current chin/jaw implant and had a negative experience with your body implants why would you want to change it?  Medpor is fine but I prefer silastic implants coated with PTFE.  This is bio compatible but doesn't be come so invested with fibrous scar tissue that it's difficult to get out if there is an infection.  I would just leave your current implant in if you like it.  The enemy of good is perfect.

 

Hope that helps

 

Chase Lay MD

While it is possible to have any type of facial implant become infected or exposed many years after implantation, that is very rare. It is particularly rare in jaw angle implants because they are placed under thick soft tissues with a big muscle overlying them...unless the implants are not secured into place and migrate up towards the intraoral incision. Medpor jaw angle implants are much less likely to have this happen because their outer surface is not as smooth as silicone and they do develop some tissue ingrowth which helpls lock them into place once they are healed.