There are different kinds of facial implants and I would like to separate them by their consistency. There are soft facial implants, there are firm facial implants, and then there are hard facial implants. Soft facial implants are facial implants that sort of have the same consistency as the soft tissue and they are somewhat permanent. There is a not a whole lot of them, there are just a few now at this point. Again, the end of 2004, beginning of 2005. The most common one of which that I am very excited about is Advanta implant. Advanta implant comes in different shapes, pretty much, it is used to be placed underneath the skin. It has the same consistency of the soft tissue of the face and is excellent for the filling of these lines called the nasolabial folds and even sometimes I use them for the Marionette lines and I have even used them for the frown lines and even sometimes forehead lines depending on how deep they are and even on lip augmentation, I use it a lot. The reason they are excellent is because they are permanent, they are very soft, they stay where you put them and they give you a very natural augmentation and contour. They come in different shapes; round and oval, you know in the transection, and they give you a really outstanding out come. I recommend these for a lot of patients with different needs and you can discuss them either with myself or another surgeon who may be coming in to talk with you further about implants or facial implants.
The hard facial or firm facial implants are usually made up of silicone. There is firm or hard silicone. There is sort of somewhat of a softer silicone. They could be used for augmentation of the dorsum of the nose, like Asian noses or African American noses that have somewhat of a spooned effect or sort of a low dorsum and we could use that for augmentation of the nose. It can be used, three cycles of implants, depending on the particular implant we use for the cheek area. There is cheek implant and chin implant. There is even angle of the jaw, we can use to augment the angle of the jaw. There is also Medpor implants, depends on the particular needs and even these Medpor implants could be used for the nose or the chin and also reconstruction of the ear. Some patients who may need reconstruction of the ear, the Medpor implant is an excellent implant that has the shape of the ear and it can be placed underneath a flap of skin and then it really forms a new ear for the individual that almost matches the opposite side. So, the chin implant is an excellent adjunct to nose surgery, to rhinoplasty because a lot of patient who have really large noses that need rhinoplasty, also have a setback or receded chin and in order to create a very nice symmetry, they do need a small chin implant. Very simple to praise, very minimal incision and very minimal complication rate, excellent outcome. Either tiny incision in the natural fold under the chin that would hardly be noticeable or from the inside of the mouth and these implants when they are placed in the right location after they are healed almost never are visible and they get excellent, excellent outcome and improvement to the facial symmetry.
Cheek implants, they are different kinds as well as chin implants. They could augment not only the cheek area itself, they could also augment the inferior area, tear trough areas, right underneath the chin, some patients have really deep hollow regions here and some of these implants that are specific for that can actually augment these areas. Make sure you speak with the surgeon who will be coming you know after this tape to discuss your particular needs and these may actually be perfect for you. Again, the chin implants, some times the patients have some indentation or receding of these areas and there are some extended chin implants that could augment that and, you know, help rejuvenate these areas. Some patients have very minimal jaw strength or jaw angles and again these are special implants that could help that area as well. So, in conclusion, the facial implants are excellent adjuncts to any facial cosmetic surgery or free standing cosmetic surgery and depending on the patient it could be an excellent procedure with very minimal complications, very natural outcome and incredible benefits.
Preoperative and postoperative care of facial implants are similar to all the other procedures. The bottom line is three to four weeks before the procedure, the patient needs to stop smoking or any type of nicotine use, alcohol, drugs and aspirin, Motrin, herbs of any kind, vitamins of any kind before surgery three weeks or so, at the least two weeks.
We need to make sure that if the person is, you know, undergoing a major procedure, in other words a facial procedure along with an implant that they do get a medical clearance if they are over the age 50 along with an EKG, if they are over the age of 40 they need to at least have an EKG and every patient at the New Me Surgical Institute will need to have blood tests appropriate for their surgeries. So you need to, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask to know exactly what are expected of you, specifically before your surgery.
Postoperative care basically would entail regular use of postoperative antibiotics and a prescription will be provided to you and make sure you do take it until you are told to stop and pain medication depends on your particular procedure and how much pain there is if any and you use as sparingly as possible, bear minimum pain medication necessary to tolerate your procedure, just regular Tylenol, extra strength Tylenol is the best pain medication, even though you may have a prescription for Vicodin or other codeine derivatives.
Complications of facial implants basically are infection, very rare, extremely rare facial area is enjoying a tremendous blood flow and because of that very minimal risk of infection exists in these areas. The other is that there is a chance of misplacement of the implant if you have any type of accidental touch or injury to the area where the implant was placed until such time that it is really tightly bound to the bony tissues underneath, so make sure you avoid any type of contact to the facial implant area as much as possible. Bleeding is extremely rare. It is a possibility if it does happen, you would know about it and you would be talking to the surgeon postoperatively and that is pretty much the major issue. Neural injury and deformities are extremely extremely rare, obviously it is something that we try very hard to avoid and you know by all means we would like to minimize the risk of. The goal for cosmetic facial surgery is always to give you the most natural result, minimal scarring, minimal downtime and the best possible out come for you that we can with the minimal complication. What I want you to know is that all we are about is always comfort. We want you to be comfortable. Do not hesitate to call us. We would rather be called more often than not. If you feel that you do not understand a specific thing about the expected postoperative tear, you do need to contact us and we are available for you 24x7.
Thanks so much and have a wonderful postoperative course.
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