Buccal Fat Removal Atlanta GA

My practice brings patients from all backgrounds and all ages. It’s often up to me to decide what is most beneficial to the patient to harmonize their face so their features can reveal their natural beauty.  A face needs an appropriate frame and most recently, models such as Bella Hadid, Chrissy Teigen, and Jennifer Lopez (J Lo) have been analyzed time and time again for the dramatic changes in their facial frames and structures.   I have to admit, I’m one of the fans obsessed with their unique features and analyze what changes they’ve had to their faces over the years.  The most honest celebrity of the 3 is Chrissy Teigen who openly announced her decision to have had a buccal fat removal from her mid face.   I personally believe that Bella Hadid had a buccal fat removal (most doctors and aesthetic practitioners would agree), and Jennifer Lopez has had many different procedures to bring her to the beauty she has evolved into (but she just looks more beautiful with time, so it’s working!).

The buccal fat is a pad of fat in the lower cheek area which carries vessels and nerves and is a nice cushion for these structures. When in excess, the face appears moonlike with a heavy lower cheek, a diminished contour to the upper cheek bone area and less light reflection of the upper face.  Board certified oral maxillofacial surgeons are highly skilled facial surgeons specializing in the underlying bony structure of the face and are the specialists who can dissect this

fat and resect a safe amount to allow for contouring of the face without causing undesired cosmetic effects such as over hollowing of the lower cheeks.   These surgeons understand the complexities of the way the bony structure of the face interacts with fat, muscle and skin and can easily dissect this fat and remove a small portion which will permanently contour the face to a more desirable shape that is less like a moon or ball and more ovaloid or inverse triangular shape (the shape of a youthful face).  Following a buccal fat removal, physician injectors can address contour and facial shape with fillers and botox (yes, botox can slim the jaw and cause facial slimming! Read about that in the next blog post-these are exciting times!!).  In the celebrities mentioned, multiple different modalities have been used to restructure their face shape and create light reflection using fillers to elevate the cheek bones and tear troughs to create less shadowing in these areas.  Buccal fat removal is a short procedure with minimal downtime and is an outpatient surgery.  As any surgery has risks, buccal fat should only be performed by a board certified surgeon who is specially trained in complex facial surgeries.  My favorite Atlanta area facial surgeon for buccal fat removal is Dr. Abtin Shahriari is a board certified oral maxillofacial surgeon trained at University of Pennsylvania and Emory University with 8 years of training, along with over 14 years of post graduate surgical experience.   Experience matters, experience matters, experience matters.