Synthetic Chin Implant Replacement with a Cartilage Graft

Q: Dr. Eppley, I had a cartilage chin implant for 13 years and it was ok. A Dr. convinced me to replace it for a silicone implant which I had for 15 years and caused bone loss and chin ptosis. I didn’t want a replacement but no Plastic Surgeon would remove it without a replacement. I had a plastic surgeon replace it with a Medpor which was AWFUL so 3 months later it was replaced with another Medpor chin implant with 4 screws. I have had 2 chin pad resuspensions as well. Now 7 years later I am seeing my chin get pointy and believe it is due to bone loss. My body is not liking this implant. Would you be able to remove this Medpor chin implant without another synthetic chin implant. Do you do cartilage chin implants or is there something else I can do as my chin might look deformed? Thank you.

A: While I don’t know what you look like or the size of your existing chin implant, a synthetic chin implant can be replaced with either autologous (your own tissue) or allogeneic (cadaveric) cartilage or bone grafts if avoiding another synthetic chin implant is the goal.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana