Don’t know what to do…

[Stei]

It’s been years that I’m fighting to get a normal appearance and now I think I’ve reached my limits. I put all I have left (financially and emotionally) in a wraparound peek implant, hoping it would fix everything but it is once again a complete failure and a big disappointment.

I shared some time ago that I was concerned about a lump (supposed to be due to swelling..) but now i can tell it from the scan i recently received that it’s actually the implant itself that it’s poorly placed…the jaw implant is in 3 pieces and the end before the chin doesn’t connect with the bone. It is painful to the touch but it’s not even the most alarming part…
I asked for cheek implants in the same time and the surgeon decided for I don’t know which reason to augment up to the lateral orbital rim. I didn’t know it was quite uncommon. One side is okay-ish but the other side presents a very noticeable lump.
Would you like to know why ? Same reason, doesn’t connect with the bone, there is a gap between it and the bone…My right eye feels constantly irritated, like it couldn’t open completely.
These two are obviously the most critical and visible issues but the real problem is that not a single piece of this implant is correctly placed. I don’t understand why we spent 1 year doing a plan if nothing ends up being like on this bloody plan.

Sure, the surgeon has accepted to do a correction. But I’m no fool it will be another disappointment.
I thought a custom computer-designed wraparound implant meant that it could only be symmetrical and only fit in a position as shown on the plan (since the implant is kinda a « negative » of the bone). But in reality, you just need to screw hard enough…

Don’t know if the surgeon is to blame for the execution, the misinformation, or myself for expecting a precision surgery can’t actually offer.
Don't know what I'm expecting from this message too, I have no alternative that going for a 7th surgery, can't already feel half of my face anyway.
Don't go for implants if you have choice.

[academiannut]

Really sorry you are going through all this.  I hope you are seeing therapists and psychiatrists, too, to help you emotionally while you go through it.  It's important to seek out emotional curing, too. 

[april]

I don't know anything about implants but I'm really sorry too. Sounds like you've been through a lot of disappointment over the years. I second the idea of finding someone to talk to about this - if you aren't already. What were the 5 other surgeries for?

[Dogmatix]

So sorry you've had to go through this. Does the surgeon understand your concerns completely and agree with you?
Hope you're not alone in all of this.

[boyo]

Who is the surgeon?

[Stei]

Thank you for your support.

"What were the 5 other surgeries for?"

Retruded/underdevelopped jaw like many people, except that I had my first surgery at 13 (4 teeths extraction and chin advancement) and I've got many issues since then (unbalanced jaw development, chin still a bit retruded, small and sharp, TMJ and skewed occlusion). The surg that perfomed the first intervention tried to fix the asymmetry with minimally invasive procedures... 2 times. At this time, I was still very young and had no knowledge of surgery, took me some time to realise how terrible was both these procedures and this surg.

Then, I went to a new surg 3 years ago, he partially solved the functionnal problems (right meniscus still displaced) and tried to fix the aesthetic issue with a medpore chin implant 2times : 1st try very asymmetric result, 2nd try he removed most of the implant (dont know why), it was a bit less asymmetric but it brought me back in the same state than before meeting with him. This implant did not offer enough support to the chin muscle so the whole chin looked really weird.

"Does the surgeon understand your concerns completely and agree with you?"

Yes and no, he acknowledged that sth went wrong since I have pain, but that's pretty much it. He need to check on the scan to get the extent of the aesthetic issues while everyone else can clearly see it from a simple look.

[Dogmatix]

Yes and no, he acknowledged that sth went wrong since I have pain, but that's pretty much it. He need to check on the scan to get the extent of the aesthetic issues while everyone else can clearly see it from a simple look.

It's probably easier said than done, especially after all you've been through. But best would be if you could sit down with the surgeon and just have a straight conversation and try to have him understand why you're having surgery.

[ben from UK]

I don't know why this happened. Feel sorry for you man. Could it be the implant was too big during surgery and the surgeon had it shaved down? In that case, maybe it could be the pieces don't fit anymore. Or... the surgeon rushed through the procedure (?) Or... it wasn't screwed well enough.

What is sth by the way? And what has the lump to do with pain? Pain is usually due to pressure on muscle, nerves or infection.

[Stei]

Could it be the implant was too big during surgery and the surgeon had it shaved down?

Something like that...He is finally taking this problem seriously. Apparently, 2 pieces didn't worked together and he did his best to get them in a better position by shaving them.
As far as the cheeks implants are concerned, they are not in the ideal position because I have HA paste underneath and it seems that during the surgery, there was a "rocky-movement" that prevented him to place the implants well.

And what has the lump to do with pain?

If you speak about the one on the jaw, it's because there is a gap between the implant and the bone. And so, soft tissues in between that can easily get "compressed".
Pretty much the same near the eye, the implant is actually too high and pivoted. In addition to that, one end comes just under my eye (few mm from it). And I think this causes me a constant feel of irritation.

As it is rather alarming, I'm getting a redo in 2 weeks. Will give you an update.

[ben from UK]

You had peek implants, am I right? Is he going to take off the implant, shave it down again, and put back in? Or is he going to make a completely new design?

Also, how far after the surgery is the redo? Isn't there bone and soft tissue ingrowth with Peek?