Do You Use Titanium Screws For Facial Implant Fixation?

Q: Dr. Eppley, Are your implants secured in place by titanium screws? Facial bones never completely “settle,” and the fear here is that eventually implants can eventually shift out of alignment via trauma or just gradual changes. Plenty of imaging on the site shows older misaligned implants. The imaging of your own implants don’t show this, but of course those are taken right afterwards. As far as I’m aware, securing with screws is the only guarantee. Without such security, even the idea of an implant eventually becoming misaligned would weigh on me.

A: The debate about the value of screw fixation in aesthetic craniofacial implants is not one in which I engage. It would be rare that I would ever place a facial or skull implant without screw fixation. Over the course of a single year I use almost 1,000 1.5mm or 2.0mm self tapping screws for implant fixation.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana