Is it good to combine facial contouring surgery with buccal fat removal?

Hello, this is Director Jo Hyun-woo of 3D Plastic Surgery.

Today, I’d like to talk about buccal fat removal, which can be performed at the same time as facial contouring surgery.

Buccal fat refers to the fat that extends in our face from the outer side of the lips to the temples.

Unlike subcutaneous fat, this buccal fat is not distributed under the skin; instead, it gathers in a pouch-like form in a deeper area than the masseter muscle.

Rather than being suctioned out with a machine like ordinary liposuction, it is removed by making an incision inside the mouth and taking out the fat pouch.

The surgery takes about 10 minutes, including fat removal and suturing.

When facial contouring surgery is performed in this way, an intraoral incision is made, so in many cases buccal fat removal is done together using that incision.

At this time, if the muscles covering the facial bones are severely developed, or if the face has a lot of fat and looks full and large, planning surgery in combination with a method that reduces fat and muscle in the facial area can lead to more satisfying frontal effects and surgical results.

Let me show you an actual patient case.

This patient wanted 230-degree zygoma reduction surgery along with buccal fat removal and double chin liposuction.

You can see that the irregular facial line before surgery became much smoother and softer after surgery.

The second patient had a lot of concern about prominent cheekbones and a lower face that looked wide and flat.

Zygoma reduction surgery and buccal fat removal were performed together, and you can see that the overall flat-looking impression was improved as the cheekbones were reduced and the protruding areas were gently refined, naturally tidying the facial line.

The last patient wanted the face to look slimmer and more refined from the front, so buccal fat removal was performed together with square jaw surgery.

By partially removing the fat that looked quite thick before surgery and cleanly shaving the square jaw in a long curve, you can observe that the face became overall slimmer and lighter.

Buccal fat can be described, for example, as the fullness outside the lips or the cheek flesh that sometimes gets bitten inside the mouth.

Because the amount of buccal fat can differ from person to person, it is important to remove the fat while considering the difference in volume between both sides.

If too much fat is removed, it may result in deeper nasolabial folds and cheeks that look severely sunken.

This photo shows the buccal fat that was actually removed.

Because many salivary ducts and facial nerves are concentrated around the buccal fat area, you can achieve a safe and more satisfying result by making sure to undergo surgery after 충분한 상담 with a specialist who has extensive anatomical knowledge of the facial bones, soft tissues, and facial nerves.

Thank you.