Brow Bone Augmentation

Q: Dr. Eppley, I have a few questions in regards to brow bone augmentation.

1. In most of your work in this area of face, a more pronounced upper brow bone area can be noticed from the profile view, which actually is the main purpose of the procedure. However, I feel that the lower part of the brow bone (where the upper eyelids and the brows meet) isn’t affected much except in this case where bone cement was used.

Does this bigger augmentation amount (compared to other patients’ results) in the upper brow area have to do with the material used or with the soft tissue anatomy of the patient?

2. I’d pursue brow bone augmentation to mostly augment the part of the brow bone I talked about before. Is this the right operation for me? If yes, are injectable fillers a good yet temporary alternative to achieve similar augmentation degree to your result that I previously linked?

A: In answer to your brow bone augmentation questions:

  1. Actually the differences between using a custom implant or bone cement are exactly opposite of your supposition. It is far more predictable and effective for lower brow bone augmentation to use a custom implant if it is designed to do so. It is very hard to get bone cements that low due to the working properties of the material.
  2. Injectable fillers are always a reasonable test for any form of brow bone augmentation.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana