Can I Participate in Contact Sports After Getting A Custom Skull Implant?

Q: Dr. Eppley, i just wanted to mention that I participate in a lot of contact sports especially in wrestling and kickboxing so would getting such a surgery be a good idea due to the constant pressure and blows put on my skull and would the implant be strong enough and hold its place in my skull. Also, are titanium implants an option? Because few other surgeons have that, thanks

A: In answer to your questions:

1) I never seen a solid silicone skull implant be a problem of exposed to external trauma. You can not fracture, fragment or deform a solid silicone skull implant. It is very much like putting a bumper on your skull. These implants are hard enough to get into place. They can be made to move or displace later as they cover too much surface area and their position is locked in by encapsulation.

2) Titanium implants are not used in aesthetic onlay skull surgery due to their tremendous cost as well as the needs to have a full coronal scalp incision for their placement. It is not that they can not be done but they provide no better benefits with their added liabilities.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana