I am a 41-year-old woman with very hollowed cheeks and sagging facial skin. Am I a good candidate for cheek implants?
Answer:
Patients with hollowed cheeks can undergo several different procedures to improve the cheek area. One my favorite techniques for this area is cheek augmentation with dermal fillers. Radiesse is a great filler for the cheek area. The advantages of this plastic surgery procedure are many. For one, it is a low-cost and minimally invasive procedure that can be done in 15 minutes in the office with minimal to no downtime. The other advantage is that the patient can see if he or she actually likes the look. If they don’t like the look, then they should not proceed with a permanent solution. If they do enjoy the look of fuller cheeks, then they can proceed with a more permanent solution. The more permanent solution is surgical. From what you are telling me, it seems that the issue is more than just your hollowed cheeks. It seems that you may also have some facial aging, as you tell me you have some sagging skin. If the amount of sagging skin is minimal, then perhaps a midface lift combined with a necklift may benefit you. The midface lift will elevate your midface and provide some fullness to the cheeks. It is done via small incisions done inside the hair in the temporal area. Certainly, if you wanted additional fullness a cheek implant could be added. A minimal incision necklift may then be combined to address the issue of sagging skin. This would be performed via 3 small incisions. One small one under the chin area and two small ones behind the ears. The neck muscles would be tightened from the chin incision and the excess skin removed from the small incisions behind the ears. I think that with these two procedures combined, all areas are addressed in via minimal incisions.
Posted by Dr. Bustillo