Have You Ever Seen Facial Implant Problems Like This?

Q: Dr. Eppley, Hello Have you ever seen case where jaw implants went through skin 8 months after surgery? Intraoral placement, genioplasty before (10 mm forward 3 mm down), chin implant before all of these. After 2 months skin thinning, later scarring, scar burst, red fluid 5 days now yellow fluid no symptoms, sometimes pain when eating hard food. Have my surgeon achieved unique result? I did not find anyone with such problem. Now they want to remove all 3 segments which is disaster. Probably it is because those in the Netherlands prohibited silicone implants. (mine is polyethylene and it was too big)

A:These are not implant-related complications I have ever seen.  But it is implants and there is a delicate balance between tolerance and problems which can occur if the implant is too big and/or in the face of chronic infection. The first ominous sign was the skin thinning at 2 months after surgery  at which time action would have been prudent as this was a sign that the balance had been tipped unfavorably.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon