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Surgeon warns against cosmetic surgery for narrow cheeks
Chrissy Teigen on Buccal Fat Removal: “Yes I Did It, So What?” photo
© Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/dpa
More and more women in their early 20s want an almost gaunt face. Inspired by beauties on social media, they even go to the plastic surgeon for it. But the surgery carries risks.
A face that looks like it has been carved, with a defined jawline and cheeks that look drawn in: This is exactly what people who have a so-called buccal fat removal at a cosmetic surgeon hope to achieve. In such a procedure, a small pad of fat is cut from both cheeks. And thanks to celebrities like US model Chrissy Teigen (37) and the social media platform Tiktok, that’s becoming increasingly popular.
But the specialist in plastic and aesthetic surgery, Detlev Hebebrand, warns against it. “One should definitely discourage young people from doing that,” says the President of the Association of German Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons of the German Press Agency in Berlin.
Hebebrand has performed buccal fat removal about ten times so far. But the demand is increasing, he observes – “especially among people between 20 and 25”. For the doctor, this is a “terrible trend, because many patients of this age cannot foresee the long-term consequences”.
When the tension of the skin decreases with age
A bichectomy – as it is called in German – is a relatively simple procedure that lasts only half an hour and can be carried out “well under local anaesthetic”. Problems could arise years later, however, when the skin’s tension decreases: “You basically create a gaunt face. It’s nice at a certain time, but later on a face like that can look very aged,” explains the doctor.
However, Tiktok users who have already viewed videos with the hashtag “#buccalfatremoval” 182 million times (as of June 2023) do not find out anything about this. Instead, countless before-and-after comparisons of young women are circulating on the platform, most of whom have had several facial surgeries. Other clips feature celebrities like model Bella Hadid (26) or actress Zoë Kravitz (34), whose cheekbones look modeled. So far, however, only one well-known beauty has admitted to such an intervention. “Yes, I did, so what?” model Chrissy Teigen explained on Instagram in 2021.
Hebebrand attributes the fact that rejuvenating and shaping procedures on the face are currently booming to the influence of social media, among other things. “Influencers sometimes explain well what they have done, but they lack the critical distance to it,” says the doctor.
The cost of the procedure
Around 190,000 operations on the face and head were performed in Germany alone in 2021, according to data from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), which surveyed 1,003 cosmetic surgeons from 117 countries. Globally, the organization recorded an increase of 14.8 percent in this area compared to the previous year. Probably also because buccal fat removal has only been carried out more frequently in the past two years, there are still no concrete figures on this.
According to Hebebrand, the costs are between 1800 and 2500 euros. Bichat’s fat body, which you can easily feel yourself, is removed. “If you put your finger in the corner of your mouth, you feel a small elevation – you make a small incision there of about two centimeters,” explains the doctor. The fat is then exposed and carefully dissected out.
The greatest risks involved: “It would be very uncomfortable if the duct of the salivary gland was blocked in the mouth. This can lead to salivary congestion, for example. Partial injury to the facial nerves is also possible, in which case the mouth could become distorted or you might chew asymmetrically for a while.”
Sore mouth and bruises
If there were no complications, however, patients would only have to expect a sore mouth and bruising for two to three days. “After ten to twelve days you no longer have any major swellings,” says Hebebrand.
But the surgeon advises younger people in particular against it. “Once it’s gone, it’s gone. As a rule, you cannot replace the cheek fat, and many patients only realize later that they have done more harm than good.” If at all, the intervention should be considered from the late 30s at the earliest.