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"Dr. Binder's Submalar Implant"


Allure - January 1998


Some surgeons claim that inserting a pliable, two-inch, half-moon, "baby-cheek" implant just under the natural cheekbone can serve as an alternative to a face lift for people who are younger than 50 - a far less expensive and traumatic solution than the skin-and-muscle tightening rejuvenation procedure.

Unlike traditional cheek builders, which rest atop the bone, the submalar device is plunked down just under the bone in the cheek hollow. "That way it can puff out the cheeks and make the face fuller," says William J. Binder M.D, the California facial and reconstructive surgeon who created the implant. The solid silicone implant replicates the natural contours of the cheek: it is thickest in the middle, where soft tissue naturally forms the cheek.

On the strength of its ability to perk up sunken cheeks, the new plumper upper was touted as the low-cost route to facial rejuvenation. Since its introduction two and a half years ago, the silicone device has earned its manufacturer number one status in the field of facial implants.

"We started a massive marketing campaign on the Binder submalar," says Implantech's vice president, Byron Economidy. "Now it's the largest-selling facial implant in this country."

With an unprecedented launch in the world of facial implants, the company piqued surgeons' curiosity with widespread advertising, then followed up with teaching tapes and scientific studies sent free to interested doctors. Another campaign targeted nonmedical members of the community with letters to the media implying that "the face lift of the '90s" was a steal at "one fourth the cost of a conventional face lift." Similar messages have since turned up on local news shows and in newspapers, as well as in national magazines.