Exciting new developments in chin augmentation include new implant shapes, textured surfaces, and more bio-compatible face implants. The face is now divided into zones and custom implants are prepared for the patient. This further introduces aesthetic enhancement into facial implant surgery over the conventional one-sizes-fits-all philosophy of implant placement. The face implants are usually made …
As with any surgical procedure, there is some risk. The administration of any medication of any sort can rarely have an unpredictable or, in extreme cases, fatal outcome. Every caution is taken to prevent possible drug sensitivity and if it should occur, to treat it properly and avoid any dire consequences.
Motor nerve injury is rare because the motor nerves usually are not vulnerable to injury from this kind of procedure. If such an injury occurs, temporary or permanent damage to facial muscles of expression may result. Weakness of the smiling muscles however is usually due to trauma to the muscles themselves, and in almost all cases can be expected to abate completely within a few weeks although some cases have taken between six months and a year to completely return to function.
Infection occurring immediately after surgery is quite uncommon because of the use of antibiotics and the careful surgical technique used in the procedure. However, late infection meaning infection occurring anywhere after three to six months, may occur due to a dental abscess or other infection which seeds the blood stream with bacteria, causing bacteria to lodge on the face implant and create a localized infection. In most cases, infection of this nature is readily responsive to antibiotics but on rare occasions, the infection is recalcitrant to antibiotic therapy, and the only treatment is to remove the implant and let it heal for a period of up to three months or more in order to completely eradicate the infection. At that time, the face implant may be reinserted.
It is wise to remember that foreign bodies of any sort can be the focus of an infection, and so when an infection occurs or when one goes to the dentist for a cleaning or other dental work, one is encouraged to take antibiotics immediately prior to that procedure. This is the same prophylaxis that is recommended for patients with certain kinds of heart disease, patients with breast implants, patients with joint replacement surgeries and patients with pace makers or other foreign bodies dwelling within their system. This simple precaution prevents infection quite reliably.
Malposition is quite unusual but may occur and be apparent immediately after the surgery. It is unlikely that face implants will move or “slip” to a different position once they have healed. It must be remembered that faces are rarely symmetrical and that sometimes this asymmetry is not perceived prior to surgery, only becoming noticed by the patient after surgery has been performed. Asymmetry, if significant, can only be corrected by undergoing another operation in which the implant is repositioned, or a different type of implant is inserted.
Hematoma, a small collection of blood within the face implant pocket, is quite unusual but may occur and requires the re-opening of the wound in order to take out the blood clot. It is not dangerous, but must be treated properly to avoid either malposition or an unusual amount of scar tissue post-operatively.
