Question:
I thought cheek augmentation had a fairly easy recovery but a friend of mine just had the surgery and it’s been awful for her. She’s had tons of bruising and pain. Is this normal?
Answer:
Cheek implant surgery can lead to a significant amount of facial swelling but, bruising and significant discomfort are not particularly common. The actual implant procedure can be fairly traumatic to the soft tissues (muscle, fat, connective tissue) of the face so that the implant is positioned properly and in a tight pocket to prevent post operative migration of the cheek implant. Swelling of the face can last several weeks but, should resolve entirely. Post operative recovery is also a very patient specific experience. You can perform the same surgery on 10 different patients and 9 of them will have an easy recovery but, one will have a very difficult recovery.
Posted by Dr. Philip Schoenfeld