Custom Cheek Implants After Medpor Cheek Implants

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am a 32 year old male from Europe looking for a surgeon who has experience with facial implants, in particular with cheek implants. I had Medpor cheek implants placed one year ago but I am not happy with how the result turned out. They are placed too low on my face and the size of the implants is way too small for the result that I was looking for. I wanted to have bigger implants placed more on the “outside” of the face to make my narrow face wider and give it more of a feminine and oval shape. Since I think that the standard range of silicone/medpor implants will not fit my expectations regarding the size of the implant, I was looking for custom cheek implants with a very big/important projection.

As I said before, I am not from the US – could you maybe explain to me how it works for international patients to have surgery with you. Do I need to come for a pre-operative consultation or would a consultation via Skype be sufficient? and plus, since I am looking for custom made implants, would it be OK for you to have a 3D scan of my face and discuss the options via Skype and email?

Thank you very much in advance for your assistance.

A:Thank you for your inquiry and your detailing your history. By your description it sounds like what you are looking for are what I call ‘malar-arch’ cheek implants that extend much further back along the zygomatic arch. This produces a much more dramatic sweeping effect to the cheek augmentation result. These type of cheek implants are best made in a custom fashion from a 3D CT scan. All subsequent discussions and preoperative planning can be done in a virtual fashion (Skype and email)

Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana