How effective is zygoma revision surgery after a lateral cheekbone surgery for 45-degree cheekbones?

Hello. I’m Dr. Jo Hyun-woo of 입체성형외과.

Today, I’d like to talk about how effective zygoma revision surgery is after lateral cheekbone surgery.

Among patients who come to the clinic after having only lateral cheekbone surgery at another hospital and wanting zygoma revision surgery, there are many such cases.

Most of them say that they had cheekbone surgery but the effect was not very noticeable.

In many cases, it is not that the quick cheekbone surgery, which is a lateral cheekbone surgery, had little effect, but rather that the cheekbone reduction was not done properly.

When patients come for a consultation and we actually take a CT scan, there are cases where the lateral cheekbones have not been reduced at all.

If you look at the CT, even though lateral cheekbone surgery was performed, the lateral cheekbones have not reduced at all.

On the right side, they are slightly reduced, but incompletely, and on the left side, the surgery appears to have not been done at all.

(Left) Before revision surgery (Right) After revision surgery

In some cases like this, it is also found after 3D cheekbone surgery.

If the posterior fixation was not done, or if the check was not performed accurately, the lateral cheekbone may return to its original position.

For patients like these, where the cheekbones have not reduced at all, revision surgery can produce a great deal of improvement.

3D cheekbone revision surgery (Left) Before surgery (Right) After surgery

Second, there are cases where the lateral cheekbones were properly reduced but the patient is still not satisfied.

In fact, in the case of the patient above, the lateral cheekbone cannot be pushed in any further.

Because it has already been reduced as much as the thickness of the patient’s own bone allows, even if revision surgery is performed, the result will remain the same.

If patients like this ask to have the lateral cheekbones pushed in more, we explain that it is somewhat difficult.

That is because the lateral cheekbones have already been reduced to the maximum extent.

To show another case:

(Left) Before revision surgery (Right) After revision surgery

This patient came to the clinic saying that the 45-degree cheekbones looked more prominent after receiving lateral cheekbone surgery at another hospital six months earlier.

The maximum effect of 3D cheekbone surgery is that the volume of the 45-degree cheekbones decreases.

When performing lateral cheekbone surgery, if the larger 45-degree cheekbone area is not properly identified and only the lateral cheekbone is pushed in, good results can be achieved through 3D cheekbone revision surgery.

3D cheekbone revision surgery, buccal fat removal (Left) Before surgery (Right) After surgery

(Left) Before revision surgery (Right) After revision surgery

If you look at the CT above, you can see that the left cheekbone has nonunion and recurrence.

When considering cheekbone revision surgery, it is important to get a CT scan and clearly explain exactly what you are dissatisfied with.

That is because there are many cases where revision surgery is performed even though it is not necessary, and the result is not satisfying.

If the lateral cheekbone area is already well reduced after cheekbone surgery and you still want it reduced further, there is no good option. However, if you want to reduce the 45-degree cheekbones, you may be able to achieve good results through 3D cheekbone revision surgery.

These days, the weather is very hot and the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is increasing, so many people are feeling tired.

Please hang in there a little longer, and I believe that if we all keep working together, a better future will come.

Thank you.