I Removed Two Forehead Implants. A Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon Explains Why I Do Not Recommend Forehead Implants.

You may have heard of bone absorption.

Bone is a strong structure that supports the framework of our body,

but it can become deformed under continuous pressure that steadily presses on it.

From the bone’s point of view, an implant

would be an unwelcome guest squeezed into a cramped space.

Once inserted, the implant keeps pressing on the bone 24/7, meaning all the time.

That pressure may be very small at first,

but if it continues for a long time, the bone is absorbed in the shape of that pressure.

It has already been almost 3 years. In September 2020, I showed the CT image of a forehead bone after a forehead implant had pressed on it for 7 years.

The person who came in this time thought the volume was too small after the first implant was inserted,

so they later had another one inserted.

So when we took a CT scan....

Ta-da...

I never imagined a forehead bone shaped like a waffle like this. (OMG..)

Shall we take a closer look at how the implants are positioned?

This is a sagittal view.

In the sagittal view, two implants are visible.

The purple fluorescent arrow marks the implant positioned above,

and the light green fluorescent arrow marks the implant positioned below.

The boundary is indicated by the yellow dotted line.

A waffle-shaped forehead bone caused by pressure from the implant is seen.

A waffle-shaped forehead bone caused by pressure from the implant is seen.

We went in and removed the upper implant first, one by one.

(Left) Top view of the removed forehead implant / (Right) Bottom view of the removed forehead implant

The larger implant appears to have been used in the first surgery,

and in the second surgery, a smaller implant was used

while grooves were carved into the base in a grid pattern to keep it from slipping.

If it had simply been inserted as is, the forehead bone would not have developed a waffle-like contour..

Looking at the smaller implant below, you can see small holes, and bone grows through them.

That effect helps keep the forehead implant from moving and holds it in place.

However, when that overgrown bone is left without the implant,

it sticks up like stalactites in a limestone cave and can be felt through the skin.

And the areas where bone absorption occurred, while the less-absorbed portions rose in a grid pattern,

were also palpable on the forehead skin.

Endoscopic photos of the grid pattern and the stalactite-like raised forehead bone

It would not be right to let someone live with this kind of foreign-body sensation in the forehead,

so I shaved it down and smoothed it out so that it could not be felt from the outside.

(Left) Before removing the forehead implant / (Right) After removing the forehead implant and shaving down the grid grooves

(Left) Before removing the forehead implant / (Right) After removing the forehead implant and shaving down the grid grooves

(Left) Before removing the forehead implant / (Right) After removing the forehead implant and shaving down the grid grooves

(Left) Before removing the forehead implant / (Right) After removing the forehead implant and shaving down the grid grooves

Forehead implants can add volume to the forehead,

but I do not recommend them.

That is because there have been many cases where they had to be removed years later because blood accumulated,

and because, as in this case, the forehead can also become bumpy and uneven.

<If you have any additional questions, leave a private comment,

and I will kindly answer them. Thank you. >