Can Custom Cheek Implants Increase Facial Width?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am a young man very unsatisfied with his facial appearance, because my face is extremely narrow. In particular, I have a very low facial-width-to-height-ratio and my eyes appear too close together. For what I have understood on Internet, an orbital box osteotomy with facial bipartition would be extremely expensive and dangerous to perform. Can custom cheek implants increase the facial width? Is there the risk that they could make the eyes appear closer together? In addition, I have a bulbous and large nose: could a rhinoplasty improve my facial appearance? Thank you very much.

A: Thank you for your inquiry and sending your picture. You are correct in that orbital ox osteotomies with facial bipartition is not remotely the correct procedure for you. That is not because it is dangerous but because it is a ‘solution that is way too extreme for the problem’. There are many aesthetic liabilities with this surgery whose tradeoffs would be worse than he original problem.

I think the single greatest maneuver to help the eye distance is a rhinoplasty. With narrowing of your wide nasal tip that alone will help make the eyes seems a bit wider.

While I don’t think that any form of cheek implants will make the eyes look closer together they would definitely addd facial width particularly in the cheek implant design had a substantial zygomatic arch component to them.

I will work on some imaging of your picture to demonstrate the effects of these procedures and get that back to you in a few days.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana