What’s the Deal With Buccal Fat?

Image Courtesy: Allure

In 2021, Americans spent virtually $15 billion on plastic surgery and injectable procedures, the most popular of which included breast augmentation and dermal fillers (Cision). The majority of these procedures focused on increasing volume and youthfulness in the face and body. Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs), lip fillers, and Botox are designed to slow aging and increase plumpness. In 2023, plastic surgery trends seem to be taking a drastic turn toward decreasing the volume of our bodies.   

Buccal fat removal has experienced a sudden surge in popularity as online users recognize and call out celebrities like Bella Hadid and Lea Michelle for drastically altering their facial structure. This procedure removes the buccal fat pad, which gives cherub cheeks their signature plumpness, producing a stark jawline and chiseled face. 

Image Courtesy: Evie

Unfortunately, the long-term impacts of removing buccal fat remain unknown. The buccal fat pad facilitates movement in the face, and it shrinks with age, much like other fat structures in the body. Currently, we’re witnessing an influx of young people receiving these procedures, specifically those who do not already have excess buccal fat in their faces. Due to the buccal fat pad’s innate nature to atrophy with age, this could lead to a hollowing of the face and a look of premature aging in those who decide to go under the knife.  

The potential side effect of premature aging with buccal fat removal is of particular interest, especially considering that society and social media have promoted procedures that slow aging rather than accelerate it for the past several decades. We’ve seen the rise of baby Botox in women as young as twenty to tighten the face before wrinkles begin, and the Kardashians popularized fillers in the face to maintain a youthful glow. Plastic surgery in young people is often treated as either a vaccine or a cure for aging, so why is buccal fat removal, a procedure notorious for quickening that process, becoming so popular? 

Image Courtesy: FDA

There’s no specific reason except that beauty is a commodity to be sold to women. Once we became sick of the constant return to the surgeon’s office in search of the elixir of youth known as dermal fillers, a new trend was forced to come out of the woodwork. While plastic surgery is a great tool to help patients feel more comfortable in their faces and bodies, it notoriously preys upon the deepest insecurities of both men and women. Once these insecurities are brought to light by a trending topic like buccal fat removal, we are conditioned to feel insecure about a body part we didn’t give a single thought to before.  

A few years prior, it was hip dips. Before that, under eye circles, love handles, and hooded eyelids. The cycle of plastic surgery is synonymous with the cycle of the public's opinion of beauty. As long as we give power to the plastic surgery industry, they will continue to use it.  

Strike Out, 

Writer: Lydia Coddington 

Editor: Noelle Knowlton 

Tallahassee