Loading
Procedure guide · Face
Facial ImplantsFacial implants are solid, shaped pieces of silicone or porous polyethylene placed onto the facial skeleton to change its proportions permanently, most often at the cheek, chin or jaw angle. They are inserted through hidden incisions inside the mouth or under the chin and normally fixed to bone with small titanium screws. Surgery takes 45 to 180 minutes depending on how many areas are treated, and the final shape appears at 3 months.
Facial implants change the shape of a face by changing the shape of the skeleton underneath it. That single sentence explains both what they do well and what they cannot do at all. Skin, fat and muscle drape over the facial bones, and the proportions the eye reads, the projection of the cheek, the angle of the jaw, the position of the chin, are set largely by what is underneath. Where those proportions are limited by the bone, adding a precisely shaped solid object to the bone changes them permanently. Where the problem is that the soft tissue has slid downwards over time, adding structure underneath does not put it back.
The material is worth understanding, because the word implant carries associations from breast surgery that simply do not apply. A facial implant is a firm, rubbery solid. It contains no gel and no liquid, it cannot rupture or leak, and it has no expiry date. Solid silicone, the most widely used material, is smooth and inert: the body forms a thin fibrous capsule around it without integrating it, which is what makes removal or exchange straightforward years later. Porous polyethylene has an open structure that tissue grows into over several months, which fixes it biologically and makes migration impossible, at the cost of making later removal considerably harder.
Neither material is superior in the abstract, and a surgeon’s preference usually reflects which property they value. If you think you might want the option to change your mind in a decade, solid silicone preserves that option in a way porous polyethylene does not, and it is worth saying so before the choice is made for you. If absolute stability matters more, for instance in a revision after an implant has previously moved, the porous material earns its place.
The areas treated are, in order of frequency, the chin, the cheek and the jaw angle. Chin implants correct a profile in which the chin sits behind where it should, which is why they are so often placed during rhinoplasty: the profile is read as a relationship between nose, lips and chin, and reducing the nose alone can leave it looking much as before. Cheek implants add projection over the cheekbone or fill the hollow beneath it, depending on which zone is deficient. Jaw angle implants widen and define an angle that tapers too sharply, and are almost always combined with chin work because the jawline is one continuous outline.
Placement has become more reliable for one specific reason, and it is worth asking about directly. Historically an implant was placed into a pocket and held there by the pocket alone, and the commonest cause of revision was an implant that rotated or drifted a few millimetres during healing, moving the shape it was meant to create. Fixing the implant to the bone with one or two small titanium screws has largely eliminated this. The screws are permanent, cause no symptoms, are safe in MRI scanners and do not trigger airport security.
Custom implants are the significant recent change in this field. A three-dimensional CT scan of the facial skeleton is used to design implants that follow the patient’s own bone exactly, and they are then manufactured individually. For a symmetrical face needing a straightforward chin or cheek augmentation, an off-the-shelf implant in a well-chosen size works perfectly well and a custom implant is an expensive refinement. For marked asymmetry, for treating the whole jawline as one outline, and for revision where a previous implant has left an irregular surface, custom design is a genuine advance: it eliminates the gaps, rocking and palpable edges that come from approximating a curved surface.
The risks are concentrated early rather than accumulating late, which is reassuring and slightly counterintuitive. Infection, malposition and nerve irritation all present in the first weeks or months; an implant that has been comfortable for a year is very unlikely to cause trouble later. Infection is the one that most often ends with the implant being removed, because bacteria form a biofilm on an implant surface that antibiotics cannot reliably clear. It is more likely when the implant is placed through the mouth, which is why dental and gum disease must be treated beforehand and why antibiotics are routine. Most patients whose implant is removed for infection do end up with a successful implant at a second attempt several months later.
The decision that determines whether facial implants were the right choice is made before any of this. It is the judgement of whether your concern is skeletal. A face that has descended with age needs its tissue repositioned; adding volume underneath compensates for the descent and often makes the result look heavier. A face whose proportions have always been limited by its bone structure is exactly what implants are for. The test a good surgeon applies is simple: they examine you sitting up and lying down, because tissue that returns to where you want it when you lie flat has fallen rather than disappeared.
One last practical point, which is the best single protection against a result you dislike. Ask to hold the actual implant the surgeon proposes to use. A size on a chart and a computer simulation both underrepresent what a physical object feels like, and patients who hold an implant routinely choose a smaller one than they had imagined. Over-sizing, not material failure or infection, is the reason most people who are unhappy with facial implants are unhappy.
Surgeons look for these points at the consultation.
Facial implants suit adults whose facial proportions are limited by the underlying skeleton rather than by soft tissue, who are in good general health with healthy teeth and gums, who have completed facial growth, and who want a permanent structural change rather than repeated injectable treatment.
Reasons a good surgeon will ask you to wait or choose something else.
Facial implants are avoided in active dental, gum or sinus infection, in uncontrolled diabetes or immunosuppression, after radiotherapy to the face, in smokers who will not stop for 4 weeks either side of surgery, in body dysmorphic disorder, and where the real problem is descended soft tissue that needs lifting rather than skeletal deficiency.
Ask your surgeon which technique they recommend for you and why.
Smooth, flexible implants that sit against the bone and form a thin capsule around themselves without integrating into tissue. The most widely used material for facial implants.
An open-structured material that tissue grows into over several months, anchoring the implant firmly to the surrounding bone and soft tissue.
A three-dimensional scan of the facial skeleton is used to design implants that match the patient’s own bone exactly, then manufactured individually for that patient.
Cheek, chin and jaw angle implants are placed in one operation so the facial skeleton is treated as a whole outline rather than as separate points.
Step by step, from arrival to discharge.
Before facial implants the surgeon examines the face upright and lying down to separate skeletal deficiency from descended tissue, marks the deficient zones, and orders a CT scan where custom implants are planned.
The implant shape is chosen by zone and the size by the deficiency, not by a catalogue. Holding the proposed implant is the most informative part of the consultation.
General anaesthesia or sedation is given, with intravenous antibiotics, because most facial implants are placed through the mouth.
Incisions are made inside the upper or lower lip, or under the chin, and the soft tissue is lifted directly off the bone with the sensory nerves identified and protected.
Each implant is seated against the marks and fixed to bone with titanium screws so it cannot rotate or drift while the pocket heals.
Both sides are compared with the head in a neutral position before the wounds are closed in layers with dissolving sutures.
Frequencies follow published guidance; your personal risk depends on your health and the surgeon.
Facial implants have a low complication rate in experienced hands, and the risks that do occur cluster in the first months rather than accumulating over years. Infection is the one that most often ends with the implant coming out, and it is meaningfully more likely when the implant is placed through the mouth, which is why dental health has to be sorted out beforehand and why antibiotics are routine.
The larger risk is one that no consent form captures: having the wrong operation. Facial implants change the skeleton, and they are the right answer when the skeleton is the problem. Where the real issue is soft tissue that has descended with age, adding structure underneath compensates rather than corrects, and the result often looks heavy. A surgeon who examines the face lying down as well as sitting up, and who will tell you that a lift rather than an implant is what you need, is the one to trust with the decision.
Expected for 7 to 14 days after facial implants are placed, longer and more marked when several areas are treated in one operation.
The infraorbital nerve at the cheek and the mental nerve at the chin are retracted to create implant pockets. Sensation normally returns over 6 to 12 weeks.
No face is symmetrical before surgery, and implants can settle differently on each side. Minor differences are usual; visible ones are corrected after 3 to 6 months.
An implant that shifts within its pocket during healing changes the shape it was meant to create. Screw fixation has made this much less common than it once was.
Bacteria form a film on an implant surface that antibiotics cannot reliably clear, so an established infection around facial implants generally means removal, several months of healing, then replacement.
In thin faces the border of an implant can be felt and occasionally seen. Correct sizing, deep placement on bone and custom design all reduce it.
Lasting numbness of the cheek, lip or chin after facial implant surgery. Uncommon, but irreversible, and the most important risk to weigh against a purely aesthetic benefit.
Recovery from facial implants is defined by how many areas were treated rather than by the implants themselves. A single chin implant means a week of mild swelling; cheek, chin and jaw implants in one operation means a fortnight of a swollen, stiff face and a soft diet. Pain is modest throughout and most patients are on simple analgesia within 3 days.
The part people are least prepared for is numbness. Wherever an implant pocket is made, a sensory nerve has been retracted, so the cheek, lip or chin feels dulled for 6 to 12 weeks. It is expected, it recovers, and it is far more disconcerting than it is serious.
Days 1-3
The face feels tight and looks considerably fuller than the intended result. Soft diet, antiseptic mouth rinses after every meal, head elevated, cold compresses for the first 48 hours.
Days 4-7
Bruising turns and fades, eating becomes easier and speech normalises. Wounds are checked and any skin suture removed before you are cleared to travel.
Weeks 2-3
Residual swelling is noticeable to you rather than to others. Intraoral sutures dissolve. Desk work and light exercise resume.
Weeks 4-6
The real contour of the facial implants becomes apparent as swelling resolves, and numbness recovers. Full exercise resumes; contact sport is still avoided.
Month 3
Implants are fully encapsulated and the shape is settled. This is the earliest honest point at which to assess symmetry or consider revision.
Facial implants succeed when the result reads as bone structure. Projection changes by a few millimetres, the face catches light differently, and photographs taken from an angle stop looking flat or receding. People typically notice that something has improved without identifying what, which is the outcome worth aiming for.
The timetable is consistent regardless of area. Marked swelling for 2 weeks, mostly settled by 6 weeks, final shape at 3 months when the implant is fully encapsulated. Symmetry cannot be judged before then because the two sides never swell equally, and surgeons will decline to discuss revision until that point for exactly that reason.
Longevity is the strongest practical argument for implants. They do not resorb, degrade or need replacing, and most patients keep the same implants for life. What changes around them is the soft tissue: skin thins and the face descends with age, so an implant placed at 35 sits in a different face at 60, generally still reading well because the underlying proportion was improved rather than disguised.
Reversibility is the second argument and is underappreciated. Because a capsule forms around a smooth implant, removal is shorter and simpler than placement and the face returns close to its previous appearance. Knowing that a result can be undone changes the weight of the decision considerably, and distinguishes implants from bone reduction, which is permanent, and from fat transfer, which cannot be selectively removed.
Facial implants are priced as surgery plus devices, and both parts move independently. The surgical fee reflects theatre time, the anaesthetist and the surgeon, and rises with the number of areas treated. The device fee is modest for standard off-the-shelf implants and several times higher for custom implants designed from a CT scan, which also adds the scan and several weeks of lead time.
Combining areas changes the economics more than patients expect. Because each implant adds well under an hour to an anaesthetic that is already happening, treating the cheek, chin and jaw together costs far less than three separate operations, and surgeons normally quote the combination directly.
Before comparing quotes, check what each covers: the implants themselves, the anaesthetist, theatre, follow-up, and the revision policy. For a procedure where malposition is the leading reason for revision, a policy that covers repositioning matters considerably more than one that only replaces the device.
Why quotes for the same procedure differ, so you can compare packages fairly.
Options to weigh before deciding, surgical and non-surgical.
Adds soft volume using your own tissue and improves skin quality, but cannot create defined projection over bone and is absorbed unpredictably.
Temporary, reversible and immediate, and the most reliable way to preview an implant for a year before committing to one.
Where the face has descended rather than lacked structure, repositioning tissue treats the cause that implants only compensate for.
Moves your own chin bone rather than adding to it, and is the only option where the chin must be lengthened, shortened or rotated.
Ask the same questions at every consultation so you can compare answers.
Almost all facial implants are made of solid silicone or porous polyethylene. Solid silicone is smooth and inert, forms a thin capsule around itself and can be removed or exchanged easily years later. Porous polyethylene has an open structure that tissue grows into, which anchors it permanently but makes removal considerably harder.
Neither is the silicone gel used in breast implants. Both are solid materials that cannot leak or rupture, and both have decades of documented use in facial surgery. The choice between them usually comes down to how much the surgeon, and you, value future reversibility.
Facial implants do not degrade, have no shelf life and do not need routine replacement, so in practice most patients keep the same ones for life. They are also removable: the capsule around a smooth implant means it can be taken out through the original incision in a shorter operation than the one that placed it, after which the face returns close to its previous appearance.
That combination of permanence without irreversibility is the strongest practical argument for implants over bone surgery, which cannot be undone, and over repeated filler, which has to be maintained indefinitely.
For straightforward cheek or chin augmentation in a symmetrical face, off-the-shelf facial implants in a range of sizes work well and a custom implant is usually unnecessary. For marked asymmetry, for complex jaw and chin work treated as one outline, and for revision after a previous implant, custom design from a CT scan is a genuine advance rather than a sales feature.
The reason is fit. A custom implant follows the contours of your own bone exactly, which eliminates the gaps and edges that cause an off-the-shelf implant to be felt or to rock slightly. The trade-off is cost, several times that of a standard implant, and several weeks of lead time for the scan, the design and the manufacture.
Facial implants usually leave no visible scar at all. Cheek and jaw angle implants are placed through incisions inside the mouth. Chin implants go either through the mouth or through a 2 centimetre incision in the crease under the chin, which sits in shadow and is very difficult to see once healed. Occasionally a lower eyelid incision already being made for other surgery is used for a cheek implant.
Yes, and facial implants and a facelift address genuinely different problems, which is why they work well together. A facelift repositions soft tissue that has descended; implants replace structure that was never there or has resorbed. A face that has lost both support and volume is not fully treated by either alone, and surgeons commonly place implants during the same anaesthetic as a lift.
The reverse is also worth saying. If your concern is entirely that the face has fallen, adding implants underneath does not lift anything and can make the result look heavier. Implants are an answer to skeletal deficiency, not to gravity.
Plan 5 days as a minimum after facial implant surgery, and 7 days if several areas were treated. The purpose of the wait is to check the wounds, confirm there is no bleeding into a pocket and catch early infection, all of which are much easier to manage before you leave. Take soft food and mouth rinse for the journey and expect swelling to look temporarily worse in the cabin.
No. Facial implants are not metal, and the small titanium screws used to fix them do not trigger airport scanners. Facial implants are safe in an MRI scanner and do not need to be removed for imaging. It is still worth telling a radiologist that you have them, so that what shows on a scan is not misinterpreted.
An established infection around facial implants almost always means the implant has to come out, because bacteria form a biofilm on the surface that antibiotics cannot reliably penetrate. The implant is removed through the same incision, antibiotics are given, and a replacement is usually possible after 3 to 6 months of healing. Most patients who go through this end up with a successful implant at the second attempt.
The warning signs are worth knowing: pain that increases rather than decreases after the first few days, spreading redness, fever, a bad taste in the mouth, or discharge from an intraoral wound. Any of these should prompt contact with the surgeon the same day.
Yes, and correcting asymmetry is one of the strongest applications of facial implants. A custom implant designed from a CT scan can be built to fill the deficient side of an asymmetric face precisely, which is not achievable with an off-the-shelf implant or with injectables. Placing a standard implant on an asymmetric skeleton tends to make the difference more obvious rather than less.
Expectations need to be set honestly. Correcting the bone does not correct asymmetry in the soft tissue above it, and no face is symmetrical to begin with. The realistic aim is to make the difference unremarkable.
Facial implants and fillers answer different questions. Facial implants create permanent structural change over bone and stop the cycle of repeat appointments; fillers are temporary, reversible, need no surgery and can be adjusted as your face changes. Over a decade, repeated filler generally costs more than an implant, which is the calculation many long-term filler patients eventually make.
The strongest argument for starting with filler is information rather than cost. Living with a change for a year tells you whether you want it permanently, and a hyaluronic acid result can be dissolved in days if you do not.
Ask how many facial implants the surgeon places each year, and in which areas, since cheek, chin and jaw work are not interchangeable skills. Ask to see their own patients photographed at 12 months rather than at 6 weeks, when swelling flatters every result. Ask whether they fix implants to bone with screws, and what their revision rate is.
Then ask to hold the actual implant they propose. Its physical size in your hand is the most informative thing you will encounter in the whole consultation, and it is the single best protection against an implant that is larger than your face can carry.
Facial implants produce pressure and tightness rather than sharp pain, and most patients move from prescribed painkillers to paracetamol within 2 to 3 days. The genuinely difficult part of the first week is practical rather than painful: limited mouth opening, a soft diet, and rinsing after everything you eat because the wounds are inside the mouth.
Recovery length depends on how many areas were treated. A single chin implant means about a week before you would meet a stranger. Cheek, chin and jaw implants placed in one operation means a fortnight of a swollen, stiff face. Across all of them the contour is not final until 3 months, so plan any photographed event well outside that window.
Yes, and it is among the most common combinations in facial surgery. The profile is read as a relationship between the nose, lips and chin, so a chin implant placed during a rhinoplasty often does as much for the profile as the work on the nose itself. Cheek implants are combined with rhinoplasty for the same reason: proportions are relative, and changing one feature alters how the others are seen.
Practically, combining is also cheaper and easier. Each implant adds well under an hour to an anaesthetic that is already happening, so the marginal cost is small, and for anyone travelling it replaces two trips and two recoveries with one. If your surgeon has not raised the chin while discussing your nose, it is worth asking them to assess it.
American Society of Plastic Surgeons2024Professional society
NHS2024Regulator
Mayo Clinic2024Other
Consultation request
Tell us the procedure and destination you are considering. We forward your request to the verified clinic you select.