Can the remaining back cheekbone be shaved after cheekbone reduction surgery?

Hello, I’m Dr. Hyunwoo Cho from Ist Care Plastic Surgery.

Lately, many people who undergo cheekbone surgery have been saying that they want to reduce the back cheekbone at the same time.

I previously wrote a column about back cheekbone shaving.

As I mentioned in that column, not all patients need osteotomy or shaving of the back cheekbone.

In most patients, when the lateral cheekbone is moved inward, it ends up almost on the same line as the back cheekbone, so the back cheekbone does not appear more prominent.

The shape of a typical cheekbone

After cheekbone reduction, the lateral cheekbone and back cheekbone are positioned on the same line

However, in people whose bone becomes wider toward the back, the back cheekbone may remain very noticeable after surgery.

A bone shape that widens toward the back

After cheekbone reduction, the back cheekbone appears more prominent than the lateral cheekbone

In such cases, one way to address the bone in the back cheekbone area is to remove the fixation pins after the bone has fully healed and then shave the back cheekbone.

CT images of a patient who underwent shaving together with back cheekbone pin removal after 3D cheekbone reduction surgery

In my case, I prefer the shaving method because osteotomy can be risky for the skull bone.

However, recently there seem to be many people who want to address the back cheekbone at the same time as cheekbone surgery.

Back cheekbone shaving method

If the back cheekbone bone is cut and pushed inward, it looks like this before the fixation pins are used.

If the back cheekbone area is shaved carefully, the hatched area can be shaved down.

If too much shaving is done, the pins may not be fixed stably, and there may also be no area left to secure the bone. So it must be done carefully with an appropriate amount of shaving, and fixation is performed with a straight plate.

This reduces the visibility of the back cheekbone area and makes it align in a straight line with the cheekbone contour.

I will show you the CT images of a patient who underwent surgery as described above.

CT images of a patient who underwent back cheekbone shaving together with 230-degree three-dimensional cheekbone reduction surgery (fixed with absorbable pins)

Because excessive shaving may make fixation unstable, it must be performed cautiously.

If done accurately, I think it is a surgery that can produce good results without needing a second surgery for back cheekbone shaving or osteotomy.

Since the back cheekbone area may be something you do not notice at all even without doing anything, it would also be a good idea to understand your own cheekbone shape and predict the postoperative result in advance.

Today, we looked at back cheekbone osteotomy and back cheekbone shaving, which many patients ask about.

This surgery is not essential, but if you carefully judge whether it fits your own case and proceed accordingly, you may be able to achieve good results without unnecessary burden.

Thank you.