Facial Implants. Bone Resorption, long-term infection risk and unnatural appearance. Why aren't chin wing options?

Question

From my understanding silicone implants can get infected years after theyre placed (ex. a tooth infection can trigger this). Because of the large ammount of facial animation from expression and chewing, as well as the bodys biological response to the foreign substance, bone resorption has been observed in a number of case studies. For young patients, why are alternatives such as chin wing and zygomatic sandwich osteotomies not offered in north america?

Barry L. Eppley, MD, DMD · Answer

Most of your stated concerns about facial implants are not founded by actual clinical experiences. Delayed facial implant infections are extremely rare and some implant settling into the bone is a natural phenomenon and not the result of any pathologic process. Moving the facial bones through osteotomies for aesthetic purposes has a role but their dimensional changes are limited. (the zygomatic sandwich osteotomy only creates limited width and the chin wing only creates vertical chin lengthening) In essence the more widespread use of facial implants is because they create 3D changes while facial osteotomies create only 2D changes in a few limited facial areas.

Gerald Wittenberg, MSc, DMD (retired) · Answer

Various bone approaches are offered by some of us who do reconstructive and cosmetic facial surgery. You can discuss your goals with a Maxillofacial surgeon in your area.

Francis R. Palmer, III, MD (retired) · Answer

Hi, I have performed many facial shaping procedures, including Chin Augmentation with dermal fillers or silastic chin implants, for over 30 years.  As with many things today, one must evaluate information available on the internet based upon the source.  From my experience, silastic facial implants (cheek implants, and Chin Implants) are very well tolerated.  Silastic does not elicit a foreign body reaction, chin implants rarely get infected even many years later (cheek implants are more prone to infection from dental work performed on the upper teeth but even that's an uncommon event) and there's very little actual bone erosion from chin implants.  The reality is that a chin implant can cause a slight amount or bone stimulation underneath and around the bottom of the implant which rarely causes an issue.  Silastic chin implants when properly placed remain the "gold standard" in chin augmentation.  The indications and the procedure are described below.
 When the chin is weak, this creates an imbalance making the nose appear larger, the mid face top heavy, the lower face looks short, de-emphasizes the lips and allows early formation of a "double chin".  
 Proper placement of a silastic chin implant adds forward projection to the chin thereby creating harmony and balance to the lower face.  Using the same incision, liposuction can be performed to reduce the fat and further shape the neck.  Excess skin, from below the chin, can also be removed through the same incision.  
 I have found that placement of a silastic chin implant, through a small curved incision under the chin (also allows excess skin removal) to be very safe, quick, highly effective and far less invasive than a sliding genioplasty (requires extensive tissue dissection, bone cuts and placement of metal screws and plates to secure the cut segments of bone).  I perform chin implant surgery in 30 minutes or less, often using a local anesthetic alone.  
Hope this helps.

Facial Implants. Bone Resorption, long-term infection risk and unnatural appearance. Why aren't chin wing options?

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Facial Implants. Bone Resorption, long-term infection risk and unnatural appearance. Why aren't chin wing options?

Answers (3)

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Everything you need to know about Chin Implant

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.