Evolving Clinical Experiences in Aesthetic Hip Implant Body Contouring.

Background: Hip augmentation increases the hip width utilizing fat transfer and/or subcutaneous implants, creating a more feminine hourglass shape. Custom hip implant surgery requires proper patient selection, correct body frame analysis, appreciation of hip aesthetics, understanding surgical anatomy, optimal aesthetic planning, a favorable implant design and fabrication, skilled surgical implant placement, diligent postoperative patient care, and proper complication management.

Objectives: The authors sought to evaluate the pioneering clinical experience with cosmetic custom hip silastic implants.

Methods: A consecutive patient surgical series of patients seeking custom aesthetic hip implant surgery was tabulated. Similar hip analysis, implant design and fabrication, surgical technique, and postoperative follow-up were performed in 3 practices.

Results: The overall patient satisfaction rate (87%, 47 of 54 patients) was favorable. There was a total of 29 (54%) medical complications and 20 (37%) cosmetic complications (implant show). A total of 17 patients (31.5%) requested revision surgery secondary to implant show (n = 10) and an infected implant (n = 6). No patient experienced an acute implant infection, incisional scar hypertrophy, wound dehiscence, implant extrusion, parasthesias, muscle dysfunction, or hip joint injury.

Conclusions: The utilization of hip implants represents a new type of body contouring implant that has some unique differences in anatomic location, implant design, and tissue pocket location. Their utilization is an evolving one in aesthetic body implants, for which clinical experience to date remains limited in number. The proper surgical placement, postoperative management, and treatment of complications to include revision surgery are essential to achieving a successful body contouring outcome.