Silicone Mandible Implant

Patients who want to reinforce jaw lines but do not want to obviously broaden their face choose a silicone mandible implant to reinforce the mandible contour. Silicone implants are relatively thin and soft and are used for the holistic correction of the concave mandible angle and body to make the sharp face relatively plump and round rather than make the mandible angle prominent like Medpor. Therefore, patients still retain the soft lines of the mandible after the operation, which better satisfies the needs of female patients. Another objective of this surgery is to fill the depression at the lower face or to thicken the masseters and buccal soft tissues, which support the cheek skin by the emplacement of silicone implants into the deep skeleton; it thus replaces autologous fat grafting in lateral cheek augmentation that is prone to absorption or loss and offers relatively long and stable results.

The procedures of this surgery are similar to those using Medpor. First, a 3–4-cm incision is made at the lower gum for subperiosteal space dissection, and then, appropriate sizes of silicone mandible implants are emplaced at the mandible surface. Soft in texture, silicone implants cannot be fixated by bone screws but require 1 month of internal wound healing to fully attach to the mandible and become stable.

Surgical conditions

Duration

0.5hr
  • Type of anesthesia: General anesthesia
  • Type of incision: A 3-cm incision at the intraoral lower gum
  • Recovery: 7 days
  • Removal of stitches: No

General instructions

No food and water on the day of surgery

0hr
  • Avoid smoking, alcohol, and irritating foods for 1 month postoperatively, and avoid strenuous or excessive activities.
  • Avoid singing or laughing and other overt mouth opening behaviors for 2 months postoperatively.
  • Avoid heavy collision to or squeezing of the mandible for 3 months postoperatively.

Ideal candidates

  • Female patients who aspire for a plump mandible angle but who do not want an excessively prominent mandible angle and jaw line
  • Patients who want to correct their too sharp or V-shaped lower face
  • Those with bone angle defects (broadsword-shaped face) due to a previous excessive mandible reduction
  • Those with a unilateral mandible deficiency or distinctly uneven faces (unilateral correction)

Possible complications

  • Poor wound healing
  • Implant reaction
  • Infection
  • Implant displacement
  • Temporary asymmetrical facial expression of the lower face

Surgical advantages

  1. The surgery is relatively not complex, and the recovery is rapid.

  2. It only plumps up jaw lines and avoids the prominent mandible bone or masculine images.

  3. It concurrently corrects lower face sharpness or emaciation and lateral cheek depression problems.

  4. Silicone implants are soft and free of foreign body sensation.

  5. It is suitable for unilateral correction.

  6. It is easy to modify or remove the implants in the future.

Surgical drawbacks

  1. The models and sizes of the implants are limited, and the applications are almost not customizable.

  2. It is unable to sculpt a distinctly prominent mandible angle.

  3. Silicone implants cannot be fixated by bone screws, so there may be risks of displacement in the future.

  4. The implants are weaker than Medpor in their resistance to exterior force impacts.

  5. Silicone implants have relatively low biocompatibility or may result in foreign body reaction.

Before & After

These photographs represent typical results, but not everyone who undergoes plastic surgery will achieve the same.

Silicone Mandible Implant – Female