Can I Add A Little Volume To My Custom Skull Implant Secondarily?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I underwent a custom implant treatment on the occipital area (right side) at your clinic earlier this year. I’m very satisfied with the results, but I’m missing a little volume just above my ear (lower right occipital area), so I’d like to have additional surgery.(I don’t think it needs to protrude much.) I have a few questions: 1) Is it possible to undergo surgery again? 2) Is it okay to insert new implants on top of previous implants? (I’ve seen a question from a patient who underwent surgery with stacked implants. Is there any problem with that?)

A:Good to hear from you and I am pleased to hear that you had a successful surgery with the satisfied result. It is not rare that a custom skull implant patient may want a little additional volume later. In those cases what is used is an overlay implant which fits on top of the existing implant. That can be a very successful strategy as long as the amount of additional implant volume is not excessive…. which in your case does not appear to be so.

What I would do is go back to original implant design file and mark on it where you want the additional volume is needed. I have attached some pictures of your implant design for you to do so.