Can My Custom Jawline Implant Be Revised?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in custom facial implant (jawline) revision. One month ago, I had a custom wrap around jawline implant placed which is way too big and disproportionate to the rest of my face. I think that it should be removed or at least reduced in size as soon as possible. Is this possible at just one month after surgery?

A: Let me first provide you with some comments about a custom jawline implant that come from a more objective perspective. I have done many standard and custom implants for young men and there is almost always a fairly standard pattern of postoperative behavior and anxiety in the early postoperative period….many think the implants are too big/asymmetric/not right and want it immediately downsized/revised or even removed. Sometimes this is true but most of the time it is because the patient has does not have an objective perspective and is finding it difficult to go through adjusting to their new look…even if it was exactly what they said that wanted. This is a phenomenon that I call Facial Structural Accommodation. I would urge you to be more patient with your result, not because a great amount of swelling resolution is going to make it smaller, but because you need time to let the result soak in. Oe month is simply not long enough to really know. Doing something now may be very capricious and a decision you may come to regret later. While I obviously don’t know what you looked like before or after this surgery, most men that I have seen in similar situations rarely have an after surgery result that would be objectively viewed as way too big.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana