What Is The Best Material For Custom Facial Implants?

Q: Dr. Eppley, What materials available for implants? I see he uses a lot of silicone and was wondering why that is. I prefer different material would that be okay?

A: There are a variety of materials for custom facial implants including solid silicone, Omnipore/Medpor, PEEK, PEKK and titanium…each with their own advantages and disadvantages There is no perfect faciak implant material.

While patients and even most surgeons get caught up in the implant material properties on a handling basis, often with very erroneous perceptions in vivo, to the body an implant is an implant is an implant. It is still a foreign material and no material offers any different or superior biologic benefit.

What separates these facial implant materials is not their biologic responsesbut other features such as cost, design limitations, and ease of placement and revision/removal .

Given that the revision rate of any custom facial implant is in the 40% range  (shocking to patients but true), the concept of ‘easy in, easy out and easy back in’ has great clinical merit. This is where solid silicone has a significant material benefit and explains its broader clinical use than the other materials.

That being said it does not matter to me what material a patient wants to use as I have placed and removed every implant material that is available. What I care about is that the patient understands the advantages and disadvantages of their material choice.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World Renowned Plastic Surgeon