Buccal fat removal is going viral on TikTok – but experts warn against ‘gaunt’ trend

2022-12-20

If you’ve scrolled through Instagram or TikTok in recent weeks, you may have spotted there’s a new beauty trend doing the rounds: buccal fat removal. We say “beauty trend” but it’s actually a surgical procedure. While this surgery is by no means a new invention, a combination of factors – largely chiselled celebrity selfies – is causing the fat removal treatment to trend.

You only need to look at TikTok’s #buccalfatremoval tag – which has racked up over 140 million views – to see this. Celebrities with incredible cheekbones like Bella Hadid, Glee’s Lea Michele and Zoë Kravitz sparked the trend that people are now hoping to copy with the surgical procedure. These A-listers haven’t said they’ve had the surgery done themselves, but influencers are willing to go under the knife to replicate their model bone structures.

But while some social media users are touting facial fat removal as the “it” procedure for those who want a more defined, model-like complexion, others say it can make you appear gaunt and older than your years.

To get an accurate picture of the treatment, we’ve chatted to Dr Omar Tillo, plastic surgeon and medical director ofCREO Clinic, to find out what it really is and to see if he recommends it to the masses…

“Buccal fat removal aims to thin the cheek areas to give the face a less ‘chubby” ’appearance. This is done by surgically removing a pad of fat tissue under the cheekbones,” explains Dr Tillo.

“However,” he caveats, “soft and full cheeks are signs of a young face. Removal of the fat, especially too much, may cause the face to look gaunt. This may also occur with time as the fat tissue naturally shrinks down with the ageing process. Those patients who had fat removal may want it back when they are in their 40s or 50s.”

And here lies the true problem with the “trend”. It’s all well and good to want model-like cheekbones in your teens or twenties, but the removal of fat that will keep you looking young for longer will likely cause some hefty regrets later on.

A viralTikTok videofrom userCentennial Beautyhighlights this exact concern. The user pulls from recent viral tweets from industry experts who believe that those removing their fat pads in their younger years will be the same ones heading for filler in their 30s and 40s.

“Just like all beauty trends – like a defined jawline or cheekbones – they change, and getting a procedure like this is a permanent solution to a temporary beauty standard,” she concludes.

Were there ever truer words spoken?

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