Do You Do Cosmetic Hip Implant Surgery?

Q:  Hello. Does Dr. Eppley do cosmetic hip implant surgery? I saw this on the website, but I couldn’t find the surgery listed on the drop down menu.

A:I have performed implant procedures all over the body including the rarely done hip implant. It is very infrequently requested (you are only the second inquiry that I have ever had) and I have only performed the procedure one time, on one side, for a traumatic injury problem to get better hip symmetry and provide a ‘ledge’ to hold up their pants better on that side.

Hip implants are almost exclusively done for cosmetic augmentation and, in rare cases as described above, for reconstructive purposes. For those women who feel that their hips are too narrow and want more of an hourglass figure, hip implants can give them more curvature.

Hip augmentation can be done through either an implant placement or fat injections. each has their advantages and disadvantages. Hip implants require an incision to be placed and are a foreign material in a very palpable and prominent area. They are placed down on top of the fascia or aponeurosis covering the iliac crest. They are not placed directly on the bone surface as this requires stripping of attachments off of the crest which is painful. (like an iliac bone graft harvest) Fat injections use your own tissue (which gets a cosmetic benefit also from the harvest site) and are soft with little risk of infection. But their reliability in terms of volume retention is not always assured.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis Indiana