Abstract
Background
In recent years, soft tissue materials have been applied as forehead fillers. Some filling materials need to be removed or refilled in a timely manner in certain situations; therefore, it is important to develop a method to identify the location and type of filling materials. This study summarizes the imaging findings of different filling materials under high-frequency ultrasound, providing a reference for clinical treatment.
Methods
We screened facial ultrasound images performed at the Plastic Surgery Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from April 2015 to July 2023 and classified and summarized the types of frontal filling materials and their imaging results.
Results
This study included ultrasound imaging results from 114 patients, including 39 with hyaluronic acid (HA) filling, 45 with polyacrylamide hydrogel (PAG) filling, 14 who received autologous fat transplantation, 2 who received prosthesis implantation, 2 who received both HA and PAG filling, and 12 who received silicone oil filling. HA mainly manifests as an anechoic zone on ultrasonography, with images divisible into four types. PAG primarily presents as fine punctate echoes, divisible into five types. Fat transplantation presents as a low-echo area with uneven density, divisible into five types. Finally, the silicone oil-filling material appears as a cloud-like high echo on the forehead, visible throughout the entire skin layer, and unclear imaging in deep tissues.
Conclusion
High-frequency ultrasound is a safe and reliable method to evaluate the type and position of forehead filling materials, which can be easily applied in clinical practice.
Level of Evidence IV
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LY, JZ and QZ contributed to the Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, and Methodology of the study, they contribute equally to this work. XS, QW, ZZ and YJ contributed to the Resources and Investigation of the study. JH, and HC contributed to the Writing – review & editing and Resources of the study. All co-authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript prior to submission.
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This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the CAMS (Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Plastic Surgery Hospital).
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Yuan, L., Zhuang, J., Zheng, Q. et al. Application of High-Frequency Ultrasound to Evaluate Forehead Filling Materials. Aesth Plast Surg (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-024-04031-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-024-04031-z