Buccal fat removal may be trending on TikTok, but popularity doesn’t make it wise—or worth it. As plastic surgeons who’ve spent decades helping patients age gracefully and naturally, we’re increasingly concerned by the rise in demand for this irreversible procedure, especially among younger patients. At Plastic Surgery Group Memphis, we don’t recommend buccal fat removal for a reason: it creates volume loss you may regret, compromises long-term facial harmony, and often leads patients right back into the OR years later looking to “fix” what felt like a quick cosmetic win.
In this article, we’ll break down exactly why we don’t recommend buccal fat pad excision—and what safer, smarter alternatives might give you the sculpted look you want without sacrificing your future face.
Buccal fat removal is a surgical procedure that extracts the fat pads located in the hollow of your cheeks—the soft volume that sits between your cheekbone and jaw. These pads play a subtle but vital role in shaping your midface. When removed, they create a more hollow, contoured look that some people associate with runway models or celebrity “snatched” selfies.
The surgery itself is relatively simple: a small incision is made inside the mouth, the fat is teased out, and the incision is closed. There’s no visible scarring, and recovery is typically mild. Sounds appealing, right?
But here’s the issue: those buccal fat pads aren’t just extra fluff. They’re part of your natural facial structure, and they tend to shrink with age, especially after 30. Taking them out too early means fast-forwarding the aging process. What looks like sleek definition at 25 can become a sunken, gaunt appearance at 40, with limited options for repair.
On paper, buccal fat removal checks a lot of boxes. It’s quick. It’s minimally invasive. It delivers a noticeable change to the shape of your face—and in an age of TikTok transformations and high-contrast selfies, that change can feel like an instant upgrade.
But at Plastic Surgery Group Memphis, we take a long view of facial aesthetics. We’re not in the business of chasing trends that don’t hold up over time.
Here’s what concerns us: Buccal fat removal doesn’t account for the natural trajectory of the aging process. What might look elegant and contoured in your twenties can turn hollow and harsh in your forties. Facial fat naturally diminishes with age, particularly in the midface. By removing buccal fat early, you risk accelerating the signs of aging before they even begin, creating a prematurely aged appearance that’s difficult to reverse.
Some providers continue offering the procedure because patients ask for it, and because it’s relatively low-risk in the short term. But we believe part of ethical aesthetic medicine is protecting patients from making decisions they may regret later. We won’t recommend a procedure simply because it’s popular. We offer treatments we believe in, backed by anatomical knowledge, long-term outcomes, and real-world experience.
Facial sculpting doesn’t have to mean subtraction. At Plastic Surgery Group Memphis, we prefer to work with the natural architecture of your face, not against it. If you’re looking for more definition, especially in the cheek and jaw area, there are several approaches that deliver balanced, longer-lasting results without compromising your future facial harmony.
For younger patients seeking subtle refinement, injectable dermal fillers (like Voluma or Restylane Contour) can create lift and contour along the cheekbone, enhancing definition without removing any structural fat. Unlike surgery, fillers are reversible and adaptable—ideal for patients still evolving in their facial structure and preferences.
If fullness in the lower face is your concern, we may suggest targeted submental liposuction, facial slimming with neuromodulators (like Botox for masseter reduction), or even skin-tightening procedures using laser or RF technology. These methods can improve the silhouette of the face while keeping your natural fat pads intact, so you still look like you, just more sculpted.
For those seeking surgical-level refinement, procedures like a deep plane facelift or neck lift offer comprehensive rejuvenation, repositioning sagging tissue rather than removing volume outright. These options respect the integrity of your facial tissue while delivering results that evolve gracefully over time.
In short: there are better tools for the job. Ones that sculpt, not strip. Ones that adapt with you, not work against you.
The buccal fat pad isn’t static. It changes—sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically—as you age. In youth, it contributes to a soft, heart-shaped fullness through the midface. But as time progresses, that same fat pad can deflate or descend, depending on genetics, lifestyle, and overall facial anatomy. What looked “too full” at 25 might look perfectly balanced at 45. And what’s removed in haste often can’t be naturally restored later.
This is where buccal fat removal gets risky. The procedure doesn’t just slim the cheeks; it erases a layer of facial volume that plays an essential role in how your face ages. Once gone, the area tends to hollow out more quickly, especially in thinner patients or those with strong cheekbones to begin with. The result? Premature aging, flattened contours, and in many cases, the kind of hollowing we typically see in much older individuals.
What’s more, buccal fat removal doesn’t age symmetrically. One side may atrophy faster than the other, especially if volume loss accelerates with weight fluctuations or hormonal changes. Correcting that imbalance later may require fat grafting or more invasive facial surgery—an ironic twist for a procedure often sold as low-commitment and low-downtime.
In our experience, the buccal fat pad is best left alone. It provides volume where your face often needs it most, especially as time starts to shift everything downward. A little patience usually reveals its value.
There are always exceptions. For a small subset of patients—typically younger individuals with rounder, fuller faces and no signs of midface hollowing—buccal fat removal can create a sculpted, contoured effect that complements their overall facial structure. But the margin for success is narrow, and the risks of overcorrection remain high.
Ideal candidates tend to be in their 20s or early 30s, have thicker skin, and possess strong skeletal support through the cheeks and jawline. Even then, a conservative approach is essential. The goal isn’t to chase a sunken cheek aesthetic, but rather to rebalance proportion in a way that still allows the face to age gracefully.
If you’re considering the procedure, it’s worth asking: Is the fullness truly from buccal fat—or is it masking something else, like under-projected cheeks or a soft jawline? Often, the appearance of “baby face” roundness can be better addressed by enhancing support, not removing volume. That’s why proper evaluation by an experienced facial plastic surgeon is crucial. The wrong hands—and the wrong assumptions—can age a face by decades.
At Plastic Surgery Group Memphis, we’ve seen enough regret cases to know that buccal fat removal should never be routine. It should be rare. Thoughtful. And only offered when all other variables align.
If your goal is to slim, contour, or define your lower face, buccal fat removal isn’t the only path—and in many cases, it’s not the best one. At Plastic Surgery Group Memphis, we guide patients toward techniques that work with your facial structure, not against it.
For patients in their 30s and beyond, subtle facial fullness is often the result of shifting fat pads, changes in skin elasticity, and softening of the jawline, not just buccal fat. In these cases, approaches like deep neck contouring, chin or jawline enhancement, or a lower face lift may provide more sustainable, elegant results.
Minimally invasive options like injectable contouring with dermal fillers or neuromodulators can also refine facial shape without removing volume permanently. These treatments allow for nuance, reversibility, and control—important factors when aesthetic ideals continue to evolve.
We don’t typically recommend buccal fat removal because we’ve seen too many cases where the long-term tradeoff simply wasn’t worth it. What may look sleek at 25 can look hollow or harsh by 45, especially when the natural aging process starts to thin the face and loosen the skin.
As facial plastic surgeons with decades of experience, our goal isn’t just to chase trends. It’s to help patients look like the best version of themselves at every age, without setting them up for premature aging or regret down the line.
There’s also the issue of irreversibility. Once buccal fat is removed, it’s gone. And while fat transfer procedures exist, restoring lost volume isn’t as simple—or as successful—as many people assume. The better choice, in our view, is to preserve what gives the face its soft, youthful integrity and explore options that can be adjusted as your features change over time.
Ultimately, our decision comes down to protecting your future face. Not just the one you want to post today.
It’s easy to assume that removing volume will automatically make your face appear slimmer or more sculpted, but facial aesthetics don’t work that way in the long run. The buccal fat pad is more than just “baby fat”; it gives the midface that subtle curve that softens transitions between features. When it’s gone, the result can be a loss of harmony, not just fat.
In many cases, what patients actually want isn’t subtraction—it’s refinement. A more lifted cheekbone. A tighter jawline. A neck that matches how they feel on the inside. All of these can be achieved through more thoughtful approaches like deep plane facelift surgery, deep neck contouring, or facial fat repositioning—techniques that work with your anatomy rather than against it.
So if you’re thinking about buccal fat removal, we invite you to ask a different question: What am I really hoping to see in the mirror? Because often, it’s not about doing less. It’s about doing it smarter.
