If your face is like this, "buccal fat removal" is not the first step — Gangnam "buccal fat lifting" is.

If your face is like this, before "buccal fat removal"

Gangnam "buccal fat lifting" is the first thing to consider.

Hello.

I’m Ban Ho-kyung, a board-certified plastic surgeon whose specialty is eye surgery and whose specialty procedure is revision eye surgery.

Many people who have lost weight but still have the same cheeks come to see me.

🥺 "Doctor, I lost 5 kg."

👨‍⚕️ "Oh, that’s impressive."

🥺 "But my cheeks are still the same."

👨‍⚕️ "...Ah, that’s my department."

It sounds like a joke, but it’s true.

Cheek volume is determined not by the scale but by anatomy.

At first, many people try covering it with makeup, using contour stickers, and changing camera angles, and then eventually they come in.

For those who are familiar with this discomfort,

I’ll explain step by step why buccal fat stands out and in which cases lifting can make a real difference.

📝 Table of contents

① Gangnam buccal fat lifting: if your face looks like this, consider it first. ⟪ Key KICK ‼️ — Causes of buccal fat prominence and facial features

② Buccal fat lifting: what kind of change is possible? — Effects you can expect from facial thread lifting

③ Facial thread lifting: how is buccal fat pulled? — Lifting principles and key points

④ Gangnam buccal fat lifting: criteria for natural-looking results — Key factors that create differences in outcomes

Gangnam buccal fat lifting: if your face looks like this, consider it first.

Facial fat is divided into independent "compartments."

Gangnam buccal fat lifting: if your face looks like this, consider it first.

Facial fat is not one single mass.

Anatomically, facial fat is divided into several independent fat compartments, and each compartment changes at a different speed and in a different direction.

Buccal fat is one of these fat compartments, a relatively deep layer of fat located below the cheekbone and in front of the chewing muscle (masseter muscle).

This area does not easily shrink with overall body dieting.

The problem is not the "amount" but the "location."

In many cases, the reason the cheeks look thick is not that there is a lot of fat, but that the fat has sagged downward.

Buccal fat is the same.

It is not that the amount of fat has increased; rather, the fat that was already there has moved downward, blurring the boundary between the mouth area and the jawline and creating an overall heavier impression.

In your 20s, cheek fat stays firmly in place, so even if your face is full, it looks firm and youthful. That starts to change once you pass your mid-30s.....

As the retaining ligaments that hold the fat in place loosen, the fat compartments begin to gradually descend.

Furnas (1989) found that as these ligaments loosen, cheek fat moves downward, and this is the key cause of midface sagging and cheek enlargement.

Why it becomes more noticeable depending on expression and structure

Buccal fat becomes more noticeable when you smile. When the zygomatic muscles contract, the cheek fat that had sagged below gets pushed outward.

That is why your cheeks seem especially broader in smiling photos.

Also, depending on facial bone structure, if the cheekbones are wide or the mandibular angle (jawbone angle) is developed, the cheek fat may appear to be pushed further outward. It is not because there is more facial fat, but because it is structurally in a more exposed position.

Buccal fat lifting: what kind of change is possible?

Now that we’ve identified the cause, let’s talk about what can be done.

Let me be honest first. Buccal fat thread lifting is not a procedure that "slims the face."

It does not remove cheek fat; it lifts the sagging cheek fat back to its original position. So expectations should be aligned in that direction.

🤓🫴 Changes you can expect from Gangnam buccal fat thread lifting

⁕ As the cheek fat is lifted, the heaviness of the midface is relieved.

This is the most direct effect of buccal fat lifting. When cheek fat sags downward after the mid-30s, the entire midface can look as if it has been pressed downward and feels heavy.

When thread lifting repositions this fat upward, the center of gravity rises and the midface appears more organized. It may look like you’ve lost weight, or simply like your overall impression has become lighter, and people may say, "You look somehow different these days."

⁕ The drooping corners of the mouth and nasolabial lines may improve indirectly.

When cheek fat sags downward, its weight pushes down on the corners of the mouth and the nasolabial lines. As Furnas (1989) showed, when the ligaments loosen and fat moves downward, that load is transmitted directly to surrounding structures.

When cheek fat is lifted, that load is reduced, making the mouth corners look less drooped and the nasolabial lines less compressed. This is not a procedure that directly removes buccal fat, but one that indirectly improves the area by lifting the cause upward.

It is important to understand this difference.

But what if someone has a lot of buccal fat volume?😭

There are cases where thread lifting alone cannot solve the problem. The issue is not sagging, but excessive volume in the buccal fat pad itself.

For people with a lot of buccal fat volume, even if it is lifted with threads, the buccal fat remains in place, so it may end up lifted but still heavy in the midface, without a clearly defined contour.

Threads can lift, but they do not have the function of reducing the buccal fat volume itself.

At this point, you may be thinking: What are you supposed to do, then? So you’re saying I should just live with this? 💦💦💦

But at Banni? We can do it openly!!! 👍👍👍

You can get both effects at once: slimming through buccal fat suction and lifting.

The threads position the buccal fat, and suction organizes the volume of the buccal fat. For some people, buccal fat thread lifting alone is enough; for others, buccal fat suction should be done together.

We distinguish between these during consultation first.

How is buccal fat pulled in facial thread lifting?

Now for the key point. I’ll explain how the threads lift the cheeks.

Thread lifting does not end with simply inserting threads. (I emphasized this in bold because it is truly important.)

The cog or cone structure at the end of the thread catches onto tissue like a latch and lifts it in that state.

It does not stretch the skin; it physically lifts the fat and tissue. That is why the position is maintained until the thread is absorbed.

The cone structure does not "pull" tissue in multiple directions, but instead stabilizes it at a specific point.

This difference creates the result. Because the cone structure supports and fixes the tissue from above, it creates a fat-repositioning effect that looks as if the sagged fat has returned to its original place.

That is why I describe thread lifting using Silhouette Soft threads as a lifting procedure that does not simply pull the skin, but rather changes the very "position" of the fat and tissue.

Buccal fat lifting — a design that changes position

Lifting the buccal fat area is not just about pulling one cheek area. What Banni considers important is a three-dimensional design that connects the midface to the jawline.

Since the cause of prominent buccal fat is tissue descent (ptosis), the lifting direction must be designed upward and slightly outward. If this direction is off, the cheek alone may be pulled while the jawline remains unchanged, resulting in an imbalanced outcome.

Lifting results are determined not only by direction but also by "how deep the thread is placed."

Gangnam buccal fat lifting: criteria for natural-looking results There is a clear reason why outcomes differ even with the same lifting procedure.

A lifting design that changes the position of buccal fat

At Banni, we use Silhouette Soft and MINT threads for buccal fat thread lifting.

📍 Silhouette Soft — PLLA material

Gangnam thread lifting Silhouette Soft Banni Plastic Surgery Buccal fat thread lifting Before & After

This thread has a cone structure that physically fixes tissue and lifts it. It is not just pulling; the cones catch the tissue, so the lifting effect is direct.

As the PLLA breaks down, it also supports collagen regeneration.

📍 MINT — PDO material

Gangnam thread lifting MINT thread Banni Plastic Surgery double chin thread lifting Before & After

This thread has a spiral cog structure that allows multidirectional support. It is especially useful in areas that move a lot with facial expressions.

PDO breaks down more slowly, so its maintenance period is longer than PLLA.

Which of the two threads to choose is decided by the degree of sagging, skin thickness, and movement pattern. In some cases, both are used together.

Lifting design tailored to facial shape

These are the three things Banni considers most important when planning buccal fat lifting.

① We comprehensively analyze skin elasticity, fat volume, and facial shape.

We do not look at only the sagging area in isolation; we assess the current skin condition, the amount and location of fat, and the overall facial structure together before deciding the direction. Even with the same buccal fat prominence, the design must change if the cause is different.

② If necessary, fat reduction is performed at the same time.

In some cases, lifting alone is enough, but if the amount of fat itself is large, combining lifting with fat reduction is the way to create a balanced result without hollowness. We discuss the sequence and timing together.

Gangnam thread lifting Banni Plastic Surgery nasolabial fold thread lifting Before & After

③ A line that does not collapse even when you smile

Not just a face that looks good when still, but a line that remains natural even when making expressions. That is the standard Banni uses to evaluate lifting results.

The reason it is connected to the entire facial line

The idea of lifting only the buccal fat by itself is actually not quite right.

When cheek fat sags downward, it affects the nasolabial folds, mouth corners, jawline, and the entire midface. It is all one connected structure.

That is why buccal fat lifting is, in effect, a procedure that redesigns the entire midface.

When cheek fat is lifted, the nasolabial folds smooth out; when the midface is organized, the jawline becomes more visible; overall, the impression changes.

In fact, Banni has been doing nasolabial fold thread lifting for quite a long time and in quite a large number of cases.

These cases are only a tiny fraction of them, you know?😎 This is not bragging at all; I’ll prove it with my skill.

Many people who had concerns about their nasolabial folds came to us in Gangnam, and over that time I have built up hands-on experience by observing case after case of how midface tissue sags, which directions look natural when lifted, and which directions lead to distortion.

We originally did not package buccal fat lifting as a separate thread-lifting treatment, but as lifting lasers have continued to advance, it seems many people have concerns about buccal fat and so-called "bulldog cheeks," so at Banni Plastic Surgery we also added the buccal fat area to our thread-lifting package 👏👏

The package name is...

Life Lifting

We hope the buccal fat lifting procedure designed directly at Banni becomes the life-changing lifting treatment for those who receive it from me🍀🍀

For some patients who consult with me and are more concerned about their buccal fat than their nasolabial folds, we have customized the treatment to focus on the buccal fat area. As mentioned above, once the buccal fat is lifted, the lower face, including the nasolabial folds, is lifted as well, so patient satisfaction is high.

But what that actually means can only be understood by someone who has designed hundreds of nasolabial folds firsthand. Banni has gone through that process for quite a long time.

The design direction for buccal fat lifting is built on the same principle. It is not about viewing the cheek as an isolated part, but about seeing the nasolabial folds, mouth corners, and jawline as one connected structure.

The difference between knowing and not knowing can make the same situation feel completely different. Reading the facial structure first and designing conservatively. That is Banni’s approach to buccal fat lifting.

How can you not fall for that? This was Ban Ho-kyung. Thank you.

ps. Our clinic does not charge a separate consultation fee. If you have any questions about buccal fat or thread lifting, please feel free to visit us.

📍 Banni Plastic Surgery | Skin Clinic Location: 8th floor, Banni Plastic Surgery Clinic, 107 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul (within 1 minute on foot from Gangnam Station Exit 12) Consultation inquiries: ☎️ 02-558-2260 KakaoTalk: http://pf.kakao.com/_QxfxabK Hours: Weekdays 10;00 ~ 19:00 / Saturday 10:00 ~ 15:00 🌎 Overseas patient consultation (Japanese/Chinese/English available)