Will Zygoma Reduction Surgery Make Your Face Look Longer? - Explained by a Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon

Hello, I’m Dr. Jo Hyun-woo of 입체성형외과.

Today, I’d like to talk about one of the questions patients ask most often during consultations.

Will zygoma reduction surgery make the face look longer?

First, zygoma reduction surgery is an operation that pushes in the protruding side zygoma and 45-degree zygoma to reduce the width of the face.

Many people worry that their face may look longer after zygoma surgery.

In fact, this is related to facial proportions.

If you know the ideal proportions of the face, you can predict before surgery whether your face will look longer afterward.

The ideal facial proportion is said to be an ideal face shape when it is divided in a 1:1:1 ratio. East Asian facial division is a little different, with a 1:1:0.8 ratio preferred, meaning the lower face is somewhat smaller.

Ideal face shape when divided in a 1:1:1 ratio

In particular, textbooks also mention that people with long faces may appear even longer after zygoma surgery.

For those whose facial width is narrow but whose cheekbones are prominent, the face is already somewhat long vertically before surgery, so if the width is reduced significantly through zygoma surgery, there is a higher chance that the face will look longer.

So does that mean people with this type of face should not undergo zygoma surgery?

No, that is not the case.

When assessing facial length, the width of both temples and the width of both ears are also very important factors.

In practice, reducing the cheekbones does not make the face look longer; rather, you can think of it as refining a face line that looks uneven.

I will show you cases of patients who actually underwent zygoma reduction surgery.

Long face: a case involving zygoma surgery and chin surgery

First, it is important to determine which part of the face makes it look long. If the main cause is the jaw and chin, then square jaw surgery or chin surgery can reduce the length of the lower face and lessen the tendency for the face to look large and long.

However, if someone has a long face with no cheek fullness at all and only prominent cheekbones, reducing the cheekbones too much may make them look older, so caution is needed.

If the main reason is that the midface is long, orthognathic surgery may also be considered.

Long face: a case that underwent three contouring procedures

The patient above had not only prominent cheekbones but also a developed lower jaw.

In this case, by performing zygoma surgery, square jaw surgery, and chin surgery, you can see that the long, uneven face shape changed to a smaller, slimmer one.

Case 1: zygoma surgery only

Unlike the patient shown earlier, the patient above had very prominent side cheekbones, which made the face look harsh and gave it an uneven line.

As the width of the cheekbones was reduced significantly, the facial line was refined and the patient achieved a more youthful-looking face. You can see that there is no feeling at all that the face looks longer.

Case 2: zygoma surgery only

The patient above also had zygoma surgery only because the cheekbone width appeared broad.

How does it look to you? Does the face look long?

The amount by which zygoma surgery can reduce cheekbone width is about 1 cm in total for women and about 1.5 cm in total for men.

That may sound very small, but in terms of facial width, it is a reduction of about 6–7%, so from the front it is enough to make the face look slimmer and the facial line more refined.

However, it is not an absolute amount that would make the face look long, so there is no need to worry. As mentioned earlier, facial proportions are not determined only by cheekbone width, so there is even less reason to worry.

Long face: a case that underwent square jaw surgery and chin surgery (when the lower jaw is developed and makes the face look long)

So far, I have explained with several examples whether the face looks longer after zygoma surgery, which many patients have been curious about.

In fact, most people whose faces look long do not have large cheekbones.

Therefore, if you think your cheekbones look large, there is a high chance that your face does not actually look long.

Also, if the lower jaw is developed and makes the face look long, having square jaw surgery and chin surgery together can make the face look shorter, so it would be good to consider surgery while taking various factors into account.

Thank you.