Your Questions
Your Questions
Q: Dr. Eppley, I have very small mouth and I hate it! Iwas looking up online about widing my mouth and your name comes up the most! I saw this type of surgery (lateral commissuroplasty) and I am curious as to how it is done and the results. Thank you!
A: While a lateral commssiuroplasty will widen the location of the corners of the mouth, there will be some fine line scars at the junction of the vermilion-cutaneous junction. The procedure is, in essence, a Y-V vermilion advancement. The horizontal limb of the Y is how far the new corner will be located to the side. The line is then cut (opened) and the vermilion of the corner of the mouth is then advanced outward to the end of the line that was opened and then sutured there. This is how the mouth gets wider. Is it a good cosmetic procedure? I think it depends on how small a mouth one has. I would have to see pictures of your mouth to see if it would be beneficial for your aesthetic goals. Scars are always a trade-off for any lip vermilion procedure so you have to have a significant enough aesthetic problem to make that exchange.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I've seen your article ‘Case Study: Removal of Skull Lumps and Bumps (Osteomas) in Men’ from Friday, May 27th, 2011″ I've a similar osteoma in the front of the head over one of the sinuses. I'd like to know if it is possible that the endoscopic approach in my case could be used and if there are any contraindications?
A: I would need to see a picture of the location of the osteoma. While a frontal osteoma can be successfully removed by an endoscopic technique, the critical question is if it overlies the frontal sinus. (anterior table of the frontal sinus) This may mean it involves the entire sinus wall which could be very relevant which it comes to its removal. This is why in your case I would recommend a lateral skull x-ray before surgery to determine the exact location of the osteoma and whether it can be removed without taking off the frontal sinus wall. With an endoscopic technique, an osteoma is removed by an osteotome, (chisel) not a burr. If it involved the sinus wall, trying to remove with an osteotome could result in the entire frontal sinus wall coming with it.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley,I have been considering a rhinoplasty to straighten the bridge of my nose, smooth it, and possibly narrow it (it is a little wide). It is difficult to see from some of the photos but my nose goes a little to the right side of my face and has a slight “S” shape. In one of the photos the “S” shape of my nose is exaggerated from shadow and theuse of a poor camera. I am also considering slightly reducing some of the projection on my chin.
A: The S-shaped nasal deformity is one of the most challenging of all rhinoplasties because the entire nasal structures down through the septum is crooked. In looking at your pictures you have exactly that issue with right nasal bone outward deviation, left nasal bone inward deviation, complete left middle vault collapse with right-sided septal deviation and a wide broad tip. The challenge is to do a rhinoplasty in which the nose is perfectly straight afterword. This requires an open septorhinoplasty with correction of the septal deviation, reduction of inferior turbinates (I suspect you may also have some breathing problems), large septal graft harvest, nasal osteotomies, reconstruction of the middle vault with spreader grafts, nostril narrowing with a columellar strut graft nasal dorsal augmentation with septal cartilage. I have attached some computer imaging to show what the goal of that effort would be. A small amount of chin reduction was done as well, perhaps a 5mm bone reduction.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Can you tell me anything about the Lifestyle Lift? Their commercials look great but I am skeptical. What is it that they do, is it surgery and how long will the results last?
A: Just like hamburgers and coffee, facelifts today are also a franchise business. The Lifestyle Lift is the most well known due to their large national advertising efforts and having been around for over ten years. While it often is not obvious in their commercials and advertisements, it is surgery and it is all based on a variation of small facelift. The other thing that is not obvious for their advertising is that many of the patients have had more than just a Lifestyle Lift to get the results that are shown.
There are numerous types of what I call franchised forms of so-called quick recovery facial tuck-ups which aare well known versions of limited facelifts or jowl tuck-up procedures. There is nothing magical or necessarily unique about the underlying procedure. They are all scaled down versions of a more complete facelift or a neck-jowl lift. It can be very effective if done well and will get years of sustained improvement which will vary by a patient’s skin type and genetics. I suspect the results could last anywhere from 3 to 7 years depending upon where one starts and how well one ages. The more relevant question, however, is whether this type of facelift approach is right for you. The vast majority of unhappiness with these franchised named ‘mini-facelifts’ is that the patient wasn’t a good candidate for it. Their facial aging issues were more advanced and they should have had a fuller facelift to get the kind of result that they were expecting. Patients understandably are tempted to choose a facelift rejuvenation operation based on how it would be done (local or IV sedation), a short recovery and/or a low cost rather than choosing a facial rejuvenation procedure(s) that best suit their needs. Like all cookie-cutter approaches, it works well for some people but not for others. Like any consult with a plastic surgeon, be educated, do your homework, and get different opinions.
Q: Dr. Eppley, I would like to find out if I am an appropriate candidate for lipodissolve. I had a tummy tuck about 7 years ago and do not wish to have another surgical procedure. I have always had issues with my flanks.
A: While I obviously do not know what your flanks look like, I highly doubt they could be signficantly improved by Lipodissolve injections. That is a fat reduction technique that has largely faded from use due to limited effectiveness. I still use it occasionally for small revisions after liposuction surgery but it is too ineffective and inefficient to treat laregr fat areas. You may consider other non-surgical alternatives such as Exilis radiofrequency treatments which have been shown to be more effective than these old-style fat injections. But whether even this approach is appropriate would depend on the size of your current flanks. I would encourage you to come in for a free consultation to find out the advantages and disadvantages of both flank liposuction and Exilis treatments to the flanks.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, First off just to inform you that I have been dealing with this since I was 19 yrs old, I am 46 yeras old now. I was born with a very weak chin. I never told anyone and always wondered why I took horrible pictures. Took me many years to figure it out that my jaw was not there. Been ripped off as one doc did needles in my neck and liposuction in 1991 and still had a turkey neck. Then I had a chin implant in 1996 and still had a turkeyneck after. I am a police officer and when people want a pic with a police officer I turn them down. I hate this. Is there any help? I do weight train & cardio but nothing changes my neck. I just entered on the computer about weak jaw for men and your site came up.
A: Thank you for your inquiry and sharing your very personal story. Until I see some pictures of you it is hard to know whether you have a very underdeveloped lower jaw although your description sounds very much like that is so since you have had this issue since you were very young. Your prior chin implant may not have been successful because the volumetric dimensions that it added were way inadequate, not that the concept of it was wrong. Significantly lengthening of the jawline and chin will also provide improvement in the turkeyneck appearance as the jawline becomes longer, a neck angle becomes more apparent. Please send me a front and side view of your face for my further assessment.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I want to know if it is possible to reshape the back of head, specifically to build it up somewhat. I have attached pictures of what I want it to look like and want to know if this possible. The back of my head is too flat and looks weird and has always bothered me since I was a child. I live in Saudi Arabia and have seen 3 craniomaxillofacial surgeons in Europe, all of whom have told me they can't perceive what I take to be a problem and have suggested I suffer from body dysmorphia. It's been a frustrating experience. I will be visiting family in the US at the end of next year. If you tell me augmentation is possible, I would be very pleased to arrange a phone consultation with you and see you next year for surgery.
A: Your pictures show a very reasonable outcome from an occipital cranioplasty procedure. In my experience this is the most common area for a cosmetic cranioplasty augmentation. What you seek is neither unreasonable or unrealistic. What you have to understand is that this type of cosmetic skull reshaping is ‘new’, not the techniquies to do it but the concept that it is done for a cosmetic head shape concern. Thus you will find unfamiliarity, and perhaps even unacceptance, amongst most surgeons for this type of procedure. This implies that it is neither unsafe or not able to be done, just an unfamiliarity and lack of understanding that people can be bothered by the shape of their head just as much as they may be about the shape of their nose or their breasts. I suspect one day we will look back on cosmetic skull reshaping very much like people looked at the concept of breast implant augmentation in 1965.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I am inquiring about a rhinoplasty. I am a 35 year old male in great shape. My nose history is that I played high school and college basketball and probably broke my nose 3 or 4 times so there is an obvious bump on it that is visible from both sides and then I would like it to be smaller or just fit my face better. Also, I think because of the number of times it has been broke it affects by breathing which is heavy through my nose. I have had my tonsils taken out to try to help but it hasn't. I have attached some pictures so you can see the nose problem that I have.
A: Thank you for sending the pictures of your nose. Your story is a fairly classic one and represents what I call the athletic or ‘sports’ nose deformity. This is the result of numerous nasal injuries and presents a story and nose that looks very much like yours. There is a visible nasal hump which is somewhat due to a severe middle vault collapse due to internal septal shortening and deviation. The internal inferior turbinates are usually hypertrophied. The combination of septal deviation, large turbinates and middle vault upper cartilage collapse undoubtably makes some contribution to your breathing difficulties. In addition, the nasal bones are displaced and often deviated. The nasal tip is large and too wide and long for good nasal balance.
To correct such a nasal problem, a complete open septorhinoplasty is needed to straighten the septum, reduce the size of the inferior turbinates, reconstruction of the middle vault with cartilage spreader grafts, nasal hump reduction with straightening osteotomies, and tip cartilage reduction and narrowing a columellar strut cartilage graft. I have done some computer imaging in profile to show you a potential result on the external nose shape. Unfortunately, the quality of your frontal picture is not adequate to do any computer imaging and will have to await better photographs taken in my office.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I am getting breast augmentation next week and I can’t decide between two breast implant sizers. I am 5’ 6” and weigh 135 lbs. I am currently an A cup but lost much of my original volume due to children so they are flat with some loose skin. I am torn between 450cc or 500cc silicone gummy bear breast implants. They are going under the muscle so I am wondering if more volume is needed because they will be covered by more tissue. I don't want to look too big in my clothes but do want to have a wow factor without my clothes 🙂 Also, I hoping to achieve close to a full size D cup and I know if 450cc or 500cc will get me closer that. What do you think?
A: The difference of 50cc between breast implant sizes in the 500cc range is very small as that constitutes less than a 10% volume difference when you do the mathematical ratio. That is barely if at all visible. But in the debate between these two sizes, you have stated several important factors that make it clear to me as to which is best for you…the desire for a full D cup, wanting a wow factor and the very fact that you are asking this question. These suggest that you are afraid of not being big enough. In addition you have a lot of loose skin on your breasts of which it always take more volume to fill them out. Therefore, between those two sizes I would opt for the slightly larger one and choose the 500cc implants.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis,Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I dont seem to fit the mold as far as the skull reshaping surgeries you have performed but I feel my head is so small. I am a male with a regular bodybuild and a small head. I have been made fun of my entire life. People can be so cruel they automatically make judgments from how I look in the oustide and don’t seem to care about the person inside. I hardly ever want to go outside anymore. I would love to know if there is any hope for me as far as my head size is concerned. I have to tell you my face is completely normal looking only if the top of my head was elongated about half an inch it would make a world of difference. I know if the shape of my skull could be changed my life would get a million times better. I have a few pictures so you can see what I mean.
A: Thank you for sending your pictures and expressing your concerns. Your skull shape concerns as I see them are not uncommon and I have recontoured such skull shapes before. I believe what you are seeing as a small head is a parasagittal front to back deficiency which likely represents a microform of sagittal craniosynostosis. This means that the skull bone has a contour flattening as it tails away from the midline sagittal ridge on both sides. This creates a bit of a peaked skull that is somewhat riangular in shape, making the skull look small and to not have a more rounded shape in the front view. I have seen this numerous times and it can be improved by an onlay cranioplasty that builds up the sides to raise it more to the level of the midline ridge height. I have attached a prediction image of what that result may look like.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I have had saline breast implants now in place for over 20 years without any problems. My only concern has been the rippling that I feel on the sides of my breasts. I would like to have a more natural feel without the rippling that I understand I will have with the newer silicone gel breast implants. I also want to go to a bigger size. How difficult or complicated is this replacement surgery?
A: Given that you have had no problems for over two decades and have been pleased with the results (minus the rippling) all these years, this indicates well formed pockets. With established pockets that do not need to be adjusted, this would be a simple procedure of swapping a new pair for the olds. The only true surgical site would be the incision and dissection down into the existing capsule. This will result in essentially little to no pain, swelling and bruising after surgery. This will be quite a different experience than your original breast augmentation surgery. It will make no difference that you will be increasing implant size as today’s new implants have more narrow base diameters with increased projection than your old ones. This means that almost regardless of what size you want to go to (within reason), the implant capsule will not need to released or expanded from its existing size to accommodate new implants that are 100 to 150ccs bigger.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I had buttock implants that were removed in December 2011 due to a shifting of the left implant. It left me with a indentation defect. I would like to see what options I have to revise this area. Thank you.
A: If removal of a buttock implant left an indentation defect and had to be removed due to shifting, that would indicate that the original implants were likely placed in a subcutaneous pocket…which is notorious for implant displacement in the buttock region. That would also explain why the indentation defect appeared, probably from pressure atrophy being too buy propecia online without prescription
close to the skin. Such problems do not usually arise from intramuscular buttock implants if they are placed properly.
Depending on the size of the buttock indentation, fat injection grafting would be the best treatment. The indentation likely represents a fat defect so replacing similar tissue with what has been lost seems most logical. Fat injection grafting does require that one has some fat to harvest but for a buttock indentation the volume needed should not be too great.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I am 32 years old, 5’ 4” and weigh 148 lbs. I have been struggling my entire life with a very disproportioned body. I have a pear-shaped body with saddle bags and thighs that don’t seem to match what I look like above my waistline. This gives me a problem when it comes to finding clothes particularly pants. I want to get liposuction to improve this problem but I have two concerns. First, how effective will it really be? Can it really make a significant difference in the shape of my lower body? Second, I have cellulite and stretch marks and am afraid that it will make them look worse. Despite these fears, I am so frustrated with these bulges of flab that I can do nothing about, no amount of exercise does anything. Plus this flab irritates me when I walk as it jiggles.
A: While your concerns about liposuction is understandable, they should not stop you from eventually getting a positive change from the procedure. This congenital distribution of fat will respond to no amount of diet and exercise as it is not due to a caloric excess. It is the natural proportion of your body. Thus to make a change in its shape, it must be surgically modified. While liposuction will not make your thighs petite or even come to match your upper body, it will make a visible improvement that is most evident in silhouette and in how your pants will fit. While liposuction will not improve the appearance of cellulite and stretch marks, and can even occasionally make cellulite look a little worse, the improvement in your thigh contours make that risk a good aesthetic trade-off in most cases.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I am inquiring about a natural method for cranioplasty. I have a forehead defect including a hole through the bone from a prior craniotomy for a brain tumor. The size of the forehead defect measures about 9 x 2 cms and represents the area where the bone flap appears to have settled inward. Can I use my own bone to reconstruct this forehead defect area?
A: Cranial bone flaps, despite using rigid fixation, can heal inconsistently or undergo some resorption leaving an outer contour depression. There are multiple ways to do a cosmetic or reconstructive cranioplasty with a variety of materials, bone being one of the options. If the defect is small enough, one could use natural bone, in other words cranial bone grafts. While natural bone has understandable appeal, it is actually not the best way to do most cranioplasties. Besides having to harvest the bone (and creating another bone defect), bone grafts are notoriously unreliable and predisposed to incomplete or total bone resorption particularly when used as an onlay. The more reliable way to perform most cranioplasties is to use hydroxyapatite cements. They are structurally stable, do not resorb and can be shaped perfectly to any defect whether it is an inlay, onlay or a combined cranial defect. They are also composed of hydroxyapatite, a calcium phosphate mineral, which is highly biocompatible with natural bone. While bone will never truly grow into it and replace it, bone will bond directly to it. The type of forehead defect that you have would do well with a hydroxyapatite cement cranioplasty.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I was browsing through your website looking at facial implants and I realize that you are one of the experts in this field. I have a very small mandible and got my overbite fixed with 3 years of braces. However, afterward I still had a very small mandible. I got a silicone chin implant to fix my small chin. I am mostly satisfied with my chin. But I still have a very thin and weak jaw and I would like to get jaw implants to get width and angles on my mandible in the future. I look forward to hearing from you and discussing with you to determine the best possible process.
A: With a very small mandible, the jaw is usually deficient in more than just the chin area. It is really small from front to back throughout its entire length. The means the jaw angle area will be rotated upward, giving one high jaw angles that have little width. While the chin implant provides greater horizontal projection to the front of the mandible, angle implants are needed to improve balance at its back end. But the jaw angle implants must have a very specific style and dimensions to be effective. With high jaw angles, the implants must provide vertical lengthening as well as some width. Most current styles of jaw angle implants don’t provide these dimensions so you have to very careful to get the correct style to get the desired aesthetic result.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I have a bump on the top of my skull which appeasrs to have developed by injuring it years ago as a child. It would be difficult for me to send a picture of my bump since my hair covers it so perhaps I can describe it better. I am self conscious of the way it looks with shorter hair and effects the way I can keep my hair. It is like I said at the very top of my head and creates somewhat of a point. It is pretty swelled out and has more of an oval shape. It is similar to a ridge. I would love to somehow get rid of the bump so I can move on with my life. Personally it has had a profoundly negative consequence on my pyche throughout my youth. I am 24 now and am still reminded of its presence everyday. I have learned to deal with it mentally but the honest truth is that its a challenge to pretend it isn’t there. Thanks for listening and hope to gain more feedback from you.
A: Reduction of a prominent bump on the skull is a fairly straightforward procedure done through burring reduction using a small scalop incision. It is always helpful to see a plain skull x-ray from the front and side to see its thickness and how it compares to the surrounding normal skull. That tells me how much of it can be reduced and whether a completely normal skull contour can be obtained with this minor form of skull reshaping.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley. I am a 40 year old male with bilateral gynecomastia of undetermined origin dating back to puberty. I had surgery for it over 20 years ago which was not unsuccessful. By the surgeon’s baffled admission, it resulted in regrowth of breast tissue well beyond the original (pre-surgical), size. Since I had fully understood the procedure’s potential risks and could hardly blame the surgeon for the result, I dropped the issue altogether resigning myself to a lifetime of gynecomastia. However, having just come upon your site, particularly your discussion of the link between gynecomastia and temporal lobe epilepsy in King Tut's case, I cannot help wondering if a similar involvement has been a hidden factor in my own condition. Although I was never diagnosed with epilepsy, I had a fainting episode at 15 (coinciding with gynecomastia onset) followed by severe headaches, blind spells, and dysphoric moods. This was attributed by a neurologist to a “temporal lobe dysfunction due to damage to the sella turcica region of the brain,” possibly as a result of either meningitis or encephalitis. The antidepressants and anticonvulsants I have been prescribed to control what subsequently became recurrent major depression seem to implicate the condition further even as they themselves can either cause or aggravate gynecomastia as a side effect. I am wondering what your thoughts or suggestions might be in my perplexing case.
A: In regards to the cause of your gynecomastia, it is always an elusive question for most patients. Drugs are a common culprit although for most patients the exact reason is unclear. Whether there is any relationship between your neurological history and gynecomastia is speculative. I have never heard of regrowth of gynecomastia around a prior excision site and I would question that diagnosis anyway. I would wager it most likely represents inadequate resection that only become more evident after all the swelling went down months after the surgery. One of the hardest elements of open gynecomastia surgery through an areolar incision is getting adequate resection of the involved tissues well away from the areolar access area. A common aesthetic complication is to have adequate areolar resection but a surrounding donut of residual tissue that may not become evident until many months later when all the swelling has subsided and the skin has adequately contracted down, revealing the extent or lack thereof of the resection margins. This would suggest that further efforts at gynecomastia reduction may still be successful.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I am wondering if I should be at my ideal weight before having breast augmentation?
A: In regards to getting breast implants and your ideal body weight, I think that answer depends on how much weight loss you are anticipating and what your breasts look like now. If you plan to lose a lot of weight (greater than 20 to 25 lbs) and you have some significant breast sagging, then you may be wise to wait until you achieve that weight loss. You do not want to put in implants that will later develop additional breast sagging as the weight loss may cause the breast tissue to slide off of the underlying implant support or ledge, maing the sagging look worse. Also additional weight loss may tip the balance between a marginal breast lift candidate with their implants versus someone who definitely needs a lift with their implants. If the breasts have little to no sagging and the desired weight loss is fairly minimal, then you could proceed with breast implants at any time.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, My question is about the appropriate age for my son’s skull surgery. I wasnt to get the flat back of his head fixed by an onlay cranioplasty procedure that you have described. He is now 18 months old. Should I wait until my son is older?
A: There is no right or wrong answer to that timing of surgery question. Such 'cosmetic' skull surgery in a child is unique because they are not in a position to pass judgment about the value/benefits of the procedure. (and they won't be for a long time) Thus it requires the parents to determine the merits of the skull reshaping procedure as they look at the child's long lifespan and their psychosocial development. While that is not that helpful, you have to look at the magnitude of the skull deformity and determine if improving it early justifies surgery. It can be done at anytime as age is not a criteria (beyond 18 to 24 months old) for the surgery. You just want to be sure that the deformity has no chance to improve on its own with future skull growth.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I have seen several doctors say they can use soft silicone implants to enhance the hips. I am also thinking the newer traditional butt implants can be shaped to be placed in the soft tissue “grove” of the hip found on most men, sometimes called “the boy dent”. Why would it not be possible to do? In my experience those who have gotten injectable silicone, most have never had a problem and they inject it below the facia on top of the muscle and a scar capsule is formed around the silicone. So why not place the implants either there or inside the muscle which are where some butt implants are placed now as seen on The Doctors.
A: I would not disagree with your contention for how hip implants can be used and placed. While there is no standard hip implants, ultrasoft buttock implants can be used as hip implants. You can not place them inside the muscle and the fascia overlying the hip musculature is very tight so the implant has to be placed on top of the fascia. But there is no reason why hip augmentation implant surgery can not be done
The problem with large volume silicone injections for body augmentation is that the material tends to migrate away from where you would want it to be. This would very likely happen in the hip area due to gravity. I would feel more confortable with actual implants rather than silicone injections for hip augmentation.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I'm not actually interested in any plastic surgery, but I was compelled to write a thank you to you for not trying to make anyone think breast augmentation will give you perfect breasts. Your work looks good, and I'm sure they look even more amazing in person, but it's nice that you're up front. I fully support anyone who wants to change their look, or enhance it. I'm a beautician myself. I just felt I should say thanks for being real. Thank you for your time.
A: Thank you for your kind comments. While plastic surgery can make some very significant improvements, I have yet to see a perfect result. Every result has some flaws and no patient should expect an imperfect problem to turn into a perfect result with surgery. I am sure in your own field every person you do is much better as a result of your work, and some even amazing, but perfection is always elusive. I try to communicate that in all of my work and it is comforting to know that someone else does appreciate that insight.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I think I may have screws up my chuin surgery. I was washing my face and was pushing really hard on my chin but didn't know because it is numb and then something felt different…on the right the implant was in a different location. Then I protruded my mandible forward and it only felt tight on the left of my chin, not on both sides of it anymore. And then I palpated my implant and on the right the implant is completely on the outside of my mandible and on the left it is under it. It is bad. Now it is in a lot of pain. I tried putting it back in place but it is of no use. I will just injure myself. Now the incident is giving me a lot of pain: my whole chin and the new location of the implant. Before this happened I called about having you call in more pain medication to my pharmacy and I mentioned a painful tumor-like lump on the left side of my mandible. It is hard like bone, and round, and inferior to the bone as well as lateral to it. My pain includes pain in this area. However, the area felt different to the touch than other areas. Now, after what I have caused to happen with the implant, I cannot assess it. It is still painful to the touch, although the lump seems smaller and less obvious. It was causing my chin to look shifted to the left, because the right of my chin was flat and the left protruded where the lump was/is. Where the implant was feels like a dent in the bone of my mandible and somewhat looks like one. Now that the implant, out of place, adds width to the right side, my chin looks more centered than before, where it looked shifted to the left. I am also sending a picture of the area where the fat was inserted, just checking if everything looks normal. Both of the areas containing the transplanted fat feel to the touch like I am touching like hard rubbery rubber implants. Just want to know if everything's normal. Thanks.
A: Thank you for the follow-up and sending your pictures. Let me share with some basic concepts about the recovery process from your chin osteotomy/implant and fat injection surgery. It takes a minimum of at least 6 weeks and closer to 3 months to see the final result. It is very normal to have everything that you are feeling and showing at this point, which is very early at just 9 days after your procedure. Besides the swelling, numbness and bruising, every chin osteotomy patient at this point will have hard lumps at the end of the osteotomy cuts on the side of the jawline. That is what you are seeing on your left side and I would not consider that abnormal at this point. While it is possible that could be a malpositioned end of the implant overlying the osteotomy site on that side, it is just as likely that is swelling and a collection of blood from the surgery. I would be a lot more concerned about that issue if this was 4 or 6 weeks but not yet at 9 days out from surgery. I also doubt that you could have malpositioned the implant by rubbing on the outside. The bone and the implant are secured in placed by plates and screws so it would be very hard to displace it. The fat injections into the nasolabial folds will feel and look exactly how they do at this point and that is perfectly normal. It will take 4 to 6 weeks for them to smooth out, blend in and feel normal.
Hang in there as it is still very early in your recovery process.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I was wondering if it were possible for a bump caused by hitting the very top of my head when younger could be removed. It creates a rounded point at the peak of my skull. I know it was caused by the impact and always thought it would just reduce on its own, but never did. I believe it hardened when the bone healed from the injury. It is something that I often think about and am trying to research to see if it could ever be realistically and safely renewed to its original shape.
A: You are correct in deducing that the bony bump that you have acquired is due to scalp trauma, particularly when it occurs at a young age. Any small amount of bleeding from perforating vessels from the bone causes an accumulation underneath the periosteum of the bone. The blood will cause the periosteum to turn it into bone, thus making the round bump that you have. That could be reduced by a simple skull reshaping procedure using a small incision to burr the bone down to the level of the surrounding bone.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, A friend of mine from another country who is in his mid twenties had a temporal lift.He didn´t had any excess skin and for this reason no skin was removed. He only wanted to have a slightly exotic look of his lateral corner of his eyes and his lateral eyebrows…. now he has this sexy Keanu Reeves look. He had this surgery three years ago and it still looks fantastic – no relapse at all! I would like to have the same surgery. Unfortunately he doesn´t remember how it exactly was performed by his surgeon. He has a 6 cm long scar behind his temporal hairline and he remembers that his surgeon told him that it is important that there is no pull on the skin and only the deeper tissue has to be lifted. Otherwise the result wouldn´t be permanent and the corner of the eyes and the eyebrows would pull back to their original position again after a few months.
Do you have experience with this kind of surgery? Could you please describe to me how this surgery is done properly, what tissue is actually lifted and what has to be done that the results are long lasting? What is the cost and recovery from this surgery?
A: Temporal lifts have a long history of being done and the techniques range from skin only excision to deeper tissue release and fixation. Old style temporal lifts removed only skin and that may still work well in older patients who have significant brow ptosis and loose forehead and temporal skin. But in younger patients with minimal to no loose skin or brow ptosis, skin excision only will relapse quickly and end up only leaving a wide scar due to elastic recoil of the younger skin. Contemporary temporal lifts usually use minimal to no skin excision and rely on superficial temporalis fascia mobilization and posterior fixation. The periosteum around the lateral orbital wall and the lateral brow area is the key to mobilization and must be released for the entire tissue unit to move up and back…and stay there on a long-term basis. This is a technique somewhat similar to an endoscopic browlift and a SMAS facelift, both of which rely on tissues deeper to the skin to create their effect.
The recovery from this type of temporal brow lift is all about how much swelling and bruising one gets around the eye area…and there will be some due to the periorbital tissue release. Expect it to take two to three weeks for all such swelling and bruising to clear.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Q: Dr. Eppley, I bite down on my cheeks sometime when chewing my food which makes it uncomfortable and sore. Sometimes I can barely eat they are so sore. My cheeks are also sunken in. What are your recommendations for submalar surgery to correct this problem and get it covered by insurance.
A: Biting down on one’s intraoral cheek mucosa is not rare but occurs more frequently in some people. This can occur because of the cant of the occlusion, broken teeth, a swollen cheek lining and particularly if one is wearing hardware on their teeth such as braces. Once the cheek lining gets swollen, it is bigger and creates a protruding ridge which is a viscous cycle for recurrent biting on it.
Having a sunken cheek, however, is not an anatomic reason why one would bite their cheeks. This make seem like a logical explanation but the fat atrophy of the buccal fat pad occurs on the outside of the buccinator muscle and does not effect the shape of the inside of the cheek lining. The buccinators muscle is like a stretched trampoline and what occurs on the outside (visible submalar area) does not effect what lies on its opposite side inside of the mouth. (buccal mucosa) Thus performing submalar augmentation by injecting fat or placing an implant will not improve the shape of the lining inside the mouth…or improve the cheek biting problem.
Submalar augmentation can be performed to improve the aesthetics of the face and would not be covered by insurance under any circumstances. If a palpable ridge of mucosa exists along the occlusal level inside the mouth, its excision may remove the cheek mucosa that is getting in the way of the upper and lower teeth biting together.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I have been considering getting cheek implants for a while now. I understand that one of the risks associated with them is asymmetry and I was wondering, what is your stance on revision surgery should it be required? I understand that the OR and anesthesiologist's fees will still be payable by me, but do you still charge your surgical fee or will it be waived/subsidized for your patients? I ask this because my financial resources are limited, and I would just like to be prepared for any financial contingencies should it be required.
A: Your question is a vey thoughtful and forward thinking one that every patient should get clarified before they have surgery. You are correct in asssuming that in most cases my professional fee for revisional surgery is waived or dramatically reduced but the OR and anesthesia costs are still borne by the patient. It is important to clarify what constitutes a revisional procedure also. If there is a problem induced by the execution of the surgery, such as infection, asymmetry, malposition or other implant placement issues, then that would constitute such professional fee reductions/eliminations. If a patient desires additional improvement/enhancement on an already acceptable result (particularly months to years later), then that may modify this revisional fee consideration.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I had breast implants placed three years ago which were 375ccs. I want to go bigger but am not sure what size implant to go to. Do you think 450ccs would be enough?
A: When one desires to have bigger breasts with indwelling implants, the question of how much bigger is obviously very subjective. But most women are not going to go through the effort and expense of surgery if they did no want to see an appreciable difference, at least being a 1/2 cup to a full cup bigger. One of the common mistakes with breast implant replacements for a size change is to not go big enough. While numbers like 500cc or 550cc can seem daunting, the reality is that represents only a 33% to 45% increase in your current breast size. As a general rule, you have to have at least a 25% to 33% change in volume to ever see much of a difference. Another commonly stated number is that it takes 150cc to make a cup size change, although this would be highly influenced by the size of the woman’s chest and her body frame. So you can see that changing from 375cc to 450cc is not going to make much of a difference when it comes to a breast size change. That will make your current a little fuller but that is about it. For those woman that want just a little change or more perky, a 75cc volume implant change may be adequate. But for most women seeking a breast size change through an implant exchange, it will not have been worth the money to do so.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I had a fat transfer to remedy malar crest. Now there is still a prominent dent across the upper line. What do I do now?
A: I would have to see some pictures of your concern, which I assume is a residual malar crease that was unlikely to be improved by fat grafting alone. Malar crescents are rarely completely eliminated by fat grafting alone because there is a tissue sag component to it. It is not just a volume depletion issue alone.. Ballooning the crescent up with fat may be helpful in some cases but often can lead to a fuller crescent but one that still has a visible crease or dent. If you are more than 3 months after your fat grafting procedure, you may need to consider a cheek lift which can be done multiple ways depending on the aging condition of the lower eyelid. Cheek lifts are most effective in middle-aged to older patients who have a more significant aging component to their midface. A combined lower blepharoplasty with cheek suspension can work well in these patients. Cheek lifts in younger patients are more problematic because the lower eyelid is tighter and less aged. This leaves little eyelid skin to be removed with the cheek lift.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I already had several consultations with other surgeons, but nobody seems to understand my “problem”. I would like to have cheekbone augmentation, but I already have high and prominent cheekbones.But in my opinion there is a difference between the body of the zygomatic bone (where the cheekbone goes around the corner and what is usually called “the cheekbone”) and the arch of the zygomatic bone (the very lateral part of the cheekbone that extends to the ear and looks like a rather thin bow). My surgeons always acted like I was crazy after I explained that difference to them and that I only would like to have an augmentation of the arch of he zygomatic bone. They told me they have never heard of this kind of augmentation and there are even no implants out there that could address this problem. Then I found out, that there is a very popular kind of surgery around South Koreans.Many South Koreans have very wide zygomatic archs that stick out of the sides of their face although they often have a rather flat body of the zygomatic bone. For some reason (I think because they prefere a more western look) many Koreans don´t like this wide zygomatic arch and get zygomatic arch reduction surgery. It is a reduction osteotomy of this bone, that is done through an incision just in front of the ear. (like a face lift incision). I thought if it is possible to reduce the zygomatic arch, it should be also possible to augment this area. After I told this another surgeon, he said that this is called a preauricular incision that is only done in superficial layers, for example to do a face lift, but it is not possible to have a safe access to the bone via this incision, because the facialis nerve lies there. But I don´t belief him, because I have seen many pics on the Internet of this kind of incision that goes right down to the bone. It is used for correction of a fractured zygomatic arch or for operations on the temporomandibular joint. Does this sound crazy to you, Dr. Eppley?
Is there a way to augment only the arch of my zygomatic bone? Is it possible to carve impants for this area? I know that midface implants are usually placed through the mouth, but it seems logical to me that it would be easier to put a “zygomatic arch implant” through a praearuicular incision. Is it possible to have save access to the bone through this incision?
A: I think you have a very good grasp on what you are trying to achieve. Can you just augment the zygomatic arch with an implant…absolutely yes. While wide zygomatic arches are reduced by osteotomies, expanding or augmenting the arch requires an implant not an osteotomy. Since they are no specifically designed zygomatic arch implants, they would have to be fabricated by either modifying an existing stock implant (such as by using the wings or flanges from an anatomic chin implant) or hand-making custom ones. Which implant technique would be better depends on how much augmentation you are desired the exact location on the arch. When it comes to placement, zygomatic arch implants could be put in either through the mouth (anterior access) or from a preauricular incision. (posterior approach) Which method of access would depend on the shape and thickness of the implant, although I would likely prefer the posterior approach because the implant could be secured to the bone much easier this way.
In conclusion, your request for zygomatic arch augmentation is very uncommon but most certainly not crazy. One should not confuse unfamiliarity with impossible.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, my son had gynecomastia surgery last year and has developed severe scarring from this surgery. We have tried creams, silicone sheets, several rounds of shots and laser treatments as well. Nothing has helped for his scarring. It is so sad that a 17 year old young man is unable to remove his shirt in front of anyone, due to the embarrassment from these scars. He often has sharp pains from the scarring that requires him to rub out the pain. As you can tell from the attached pictures, the scarring on his right side is much worse than the left. This is due to the fact that he formed a hematoma under his right nipple after surgery and required a second surgery on the right side to remove the hematoma. I would appreciate your opinion to see if a scar revision and possibly radiation to prevent new keloids from forming is a possibility.
A: Thank you for sending your son’s pictures. I can clearly see that he had an initial periareolar approach to his gynecomastia reduction surgery. Due to the maturity of his scars, it appears that surgery was done at least a year ago. While I have no idea as to the magnitude of his original gynecomastia problem, I see the following current problems; wide hypertrophic periareolar scarring, a residual mega-areola deformity and some persistent gynecomastia fullness. His periareolar scarring does not represent keloids but rather is hypertrophic scarring, a not uncommon reaction to periareolar mastopexies in general. This is normal scarring that develops from tension and/or suture reactions from this type of procedure. It is not pathologic scarring nor would ever merit being treated by radiation after revision. While I can appreciate all of the scar treatment strategies done after his surgery to try and improve his scarring, re-excision was only ever going to be a strategy that has a chance to work. No scar treatment other than excision will ever make wide scarring more narrow. The main benefit to all these other scar treatments was that they have allowed time to pass for the scar tissue to settle down as well as being proactive along the way.
He clearly would benefit from periareolar scar revision combined with further areolar reduction and maybe some additional gynecomastia tissue reduction. The burning question is will this scarring problem recur and what can be done to prevent it. While I have my own techniques for how I do this surgery, it is always helpful to know what was done in the past. As the old motto goes ‘past history predicts future behavior’. From that perspective, I would need to see his previous operative note to understand what closure techniques were done so what didn’t work well would not be repeated.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana