Hip Implants

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in several face and body procedures. For the face I am interested in buccal fat removal and maybe chin augmentation. I really want a more defined Jaw so we would have to talk and see how you could achieve those results. For the body, I am interested in body shape adjustments through liposuction, anatomic waist reduction and maybe fat grafting or hip implants. I have already had liposuction of my waistline done with buttock augmentation with implants but not getting the desired body shape yet.

A: Thank you for sending all of your pictures and detailing your goals. In reviewing the face and the body pictures I can make the following comments:

1) Having been through liposuction and getting buttock implants, your options for further body contouring are now more limited. Not knowing how your liposuction was done, perhaps there may be room for further improvement in waistline reduction but it would not be dramatic. Even with further liposuction the amount of fat you have to harvest would be less than the first time so its use for far grafting would not be substantial. It could be used to add around your buttock implants which appear to be the subfascial location. At best this would add some filling around the buttock implants. Any fat harvested should be used for the buttock region and not wasted on the hips..

2) For larger hips your only option are hip implants. You don’t have enough fat to harvest to provide any hip augmentation effect. Whether the small incision to place them is worthy of the augmentation effect is to be determined.

3) Even with some further waistline reduction and hip augmentation, I don’t see you getting that close to your projected image goals. It would be better than where you are now but those pictures are not that realistic of a goal with your body type.

4) You face would benefit from some thinning/defatting including buccal lipectomies, perioral liposuction, and submental/jawline liposuction. 

5) To achieve a better defined jawline with the facial thinning, the chin is going to have to come out further to help lengthen the jawline. Whether that is done with an implant or a sliding genioplasty can be debated

Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana