“Buccal Fat Removal”: This is how the beauty trend surgery changes the facial contours
Not only observant Twitter users are guaranteed to have seen actress Lea Michele’s selfie earlier this year, which immediately sparked speculation: Has the actress undergone surgery to change the appearance of her cheeks? She would not be alone, other stars like Bella Hadid, Zoë Kravitz, Miley Cyrus or now the “One Direction” singer Liam Payne are all out and about with conspicuously prominent cheekbones – but except for Chrissy Teigen none of these celebrities have admitted to having actually performed the procedure.
While another person’s looks shouldn’t be commented on (no matter how famous they are), celebrities play an important role in setting societal standards of beauty. It is not for nothing that studies have found a connection between star cult and eating disorders, as well as the desire for cosmetic surgery. For many people, their bodies have increasingly become playgrounds in which to experiment with and inevitably follow ever-changing beauty trends. But unlike the quirky trends flooding our TikTok feed, cosmetic procedures such as B. a “Buccal Fat Removal” have long-term effects on our health and body image.
“Buccal Fat Removal”: How Does It Work?
With “Buccal Fat Removal”, the fat is sucked out of the cheek area in order to make the face appear more prominent. The plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Cohen describes it as “a procedure for patients with facial fullness below the cheekbones” in an interview with our colleagues at GLAMOR UK. He explains exactly how it works: “The cheek fat is underneath a muscle. After the incision, the cheek fat pad is exposed by gently spreading and then carefully removed. The wound is closed with dissolving sutures and the patient is given oral antibiotics and an antiseptic mouthwash. The swelling goes down within a week, the result is more visible after three months, even more noticeable after nine months”. The operation is performed under local or general anesthesia.
Who is Buccal Fat Removal suitable for?
expert dr Cohen advises: “In general, anyone can consider this procedure, but patients must not be naturally very thin in the central area of their face, otherwise this procedure accelerates the aging process and exactly the opposite of the desired effect occurs.”
Is Buccal Fat Removal Safe?
“There are dangers such as B. Nerve injuries associated with such fat removal, but in the right hands they are very rare,” explains Dr. cohen “The main danger is that patients get an overly gaunt appearance as they age. However, there is a technique that can be used to reverse the procedure by reintroducing the fat into the cheek area,” he adds. A second expert, Dr. Kimberly Lee shares the view of Dr. Cohen that one of the dangers of the procedure is aesthetic: “Removing too much fat results in an older, gaunt appearance that is usually undesirable,” she says. dr Lee also points out that it’s important to be careful not to damage the parotid duct during the procedure, adding, “The opening in the parotid duct is where saliva from this salivary gland flows into the mouth.”
Does a “Buccal Fat Removal” make sense?
No, the bottom line is that nobody really needs this type of fat removal. The usual justification for trends in plastic surgery is “Your choice is yours.” Yes, one can “choose” to have the fat sucked out of one’s cheeks, but that doesn’t mean it’s something to be accepted uncritically. Of course, almost every one of us has hunched our cheeks for a selfie at some point, trying to approach a standard of beauty that otherwise seemed unattainable. In other words, it felt good to align with the “ideals of attractiveness.” Those who undergo buccal fat removal, however, go one step further and permanently alter their face shape to conform to these ideals. But what happens when full cheeks are suddenly back in the public eye? Will there be a wave of cheek fat removal reverse procedures?
This article comes from our GLAMOR colleagues from UK