Can Skull Bone Grafts Be Used For Midface Retrusion Augmentation?

Q: Dr. Eppley, Can I use skull  bone grafts for midface retrusion augmentation. I know you are a renowned surgeon to use midface implants but I want to avoid synthetic material because I am very sensitive and want to avoid any risk of infection.

You can use a lot of bone grafts from the cranium to augment the complete middle face including: malar, premaxillary, infraortital, lateral orbital rim, and front of zygoma ..so complete front of midface. Any information about the procedure possibility please

Many thanks

A: Split thickness skull  bone grafts can certainly be done for most of the midface areas. The infraorbital area is the tricky one due to thin eyelid tissue and the high risk of palpable or  visible contour irregularities. Also the key is making sure the donor sites get ‘reconstructed’ with some form of cement so you don’t have a lot of skull irregularities as this will result from harvesting split thickness harvests on the top of the skull behind the hairline.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana