How Can I Get A Natural Looking Cheek Implant Result?

Q:  All my life I have had depressions under my eyes. It’s a hereditary thing as I have no cheekbones at all. It makes me extremely self-conscious. Although I don’t need glasses, I wear them all the time to hide this problem. I have been thinking about getting cheek implants. Do you think that will help me? I have seen some cheek implant results and they look really fake to me. How do you avoid cheek implants from looking unnatural and even making my eyes look too sunken in?

A: There is no doubt that well-defined cheekbones are an important facial component of what can make a man or a women good looking. Cheekbones help define the face by highlighting the eyes, adding balance to the other facial prominences and contributing to a look of youth and vitality.

Cheek implants can really help those whose midface is deficient. But cheek implants come in different styles and sizes. There is more to cheek implants than just choosing a size. The cheekbone is a curved structure that has dimensions of a frontal, central, posterior and inferior considerations. Different styles of cheek implants highlight these areas differently. Patients have different types of cheekbone deficiencies and that is the reason so many cheek implant styles exist. In addition, how the implant is placed along the bone and what size is chosen will influence how it will look after surgery.

Probably the biggest consideration in avoiding an unnatural cheek implant result is to not use too big of an implant. The cheek area is very aesthetically sensitive and trying to make too big of a change or use the implant to lift sagging cheek tissues can quickly make for a peculiar looking result. There are some good celebrity illustrations of this exact problem.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis Indiana