Is It Safe To Do Multiple Facial Procedures At Once?

Q:  Dr. Eppley, I plan on getting a rhinoplasty, chin, cheek and jaw angle implants this summer. It makes sense to me to have them all done at once. I have limited time off from work and only have a few weeks to recover at this time of the year. The one plastic surgeon I saw said he wouldn’t do them all at once as it would be too hard on me. I am not sure what he is talking about as I am young and healthy. I am aware that doing more surgery increases the overall risk of potential problems such as infection, but are there other risks to be taken into consideration, such as blood loss, that I am not aware of? Do you think it is safe and reasonable to have all of these facial procedures done at the same time?

A: In my experience and practice, I routinuely perform three, four, five or more facial procedures at the same time. For the reasons you have mentioned, such as recovery and other considerations such as cost, it is desirous to do a ‘facial makeover’ as a single stage procedure. There are no increased health risks for doing combination facial surgery in an otherwise healthy person. Blood loss is not a concern. With that being said, there is one risk that occurs in multiple facial restructuring procedures particularly those that involve facial implants…an increased aesthetic risk of implant asymmetries and the need for revisional surgery. The more procedures you do, the more risk there is for less than perfect results. Each individual procedure comes with its own aesthetic risks which are increased as more procedures are combined. Patients need to appreciate that the likelihood of the need/desire for revisional surgery is multipled as procedures are combined.   

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana