Buccal fat removal

It can, if too much fat is removed. The face loses volume naturally with age, so a conservative reduction in someone with genuinely full cheeks tends to age more gracefully than an aggressive one in a borderline candidate. We err on the side of taking less.

Most people take 5 to 7 days if they are on camera or client-facing. For desk-only work, some return after a long weekend, accepting that the cheeks will still look puffy in the first week.

Yes. The removed portion of the buccal fat pad does not grow back. Future weight changes and normal facial aging will still affect how your cheeks look over time.

No. The incisions are inside the cheek and close with dissolvable sutures, so nothing shows from the outside.

Not necessarily. Roundness from skin, the masseter muscle, submental fat, or overall body weight will not respond to buccal fat removal. A good candidate has a specific fullness in the lower cheek that pinches between the fingers, and that is something we confirm with you before you travel.

Yes, and it travels well. It is an intraoral day case with no external bandages or drains, so most patients plan about 5-7 days in Istanbul — 5 hotel nights and one follow-up visit for a wound check before heading home. We plan the whole procedure with the surgeon over video first, so nothing about your candidacy is decided only once you land.

You will notice early definition around weeks 3 to 4, but the true contour shows between months 3 and 6 as the deep swelling resolves.

Not really — most people describe mild to moderate discomfort rather than pain. What you feel is pressure and tightness in the cheeks, most obvious when you smile, talk, or open your mouth to eat. It is at its worst in the first 48 to 72 hours, alongside the swelling, and eases quickly from there on routine painkillers, which are part of the package. Some tenderness in the inner-cheek lining lingers into the second and third week, which is why we keep you on soft food and mouth rinses early on.

You start on soft, cool food and build back up as comfort allows, usually over the first 3 to 5 days. Because the incisions sit inside the mouth, hygiene does most of the work: rinse with the antiseptic mouthwash after every meal, and keep off very hot or spicy food early on, since it irritates the healing lining.

If the fullness is weight-related, stabilising your weight and body composition may be enough on its own. Injectable contouring can shift the impression in selected faces, and skin-tightening devices give a subtle lift, but neither removes volume. When the roundness genuinely comes from the buccal fat pad, surgery is the only definitive way to reduce it.

Usually under local anaesthesia with sedation, which is what makes it a straightforward day case. General anaesthesia is an option in select cases — most often when buccal fat removal is combined with a facelift or jaw work — and that choice is made with the surgeon during planning.

Yes. The procedure is performed the same way regardless of gender: the fat pad is removed through an incision inside the mouth to define the lower-cheek contour. Candidacy is judged on the same anatomy — genuine buccal fullness that does not slim with weight loss. Men usually want a sharper lower face rather than a hollow cheek, so the plan often pairs buccal fat removal with chin or jawline work, or with submental liposuction — double-chin liposuction, in plain terms — to keep the whole lower face in proportion.

Quotes reflect the surgeon's experience, the standard of the facility, the scope of the plan (a standalone procedure costs less than one combined with other work), and how much pre- and post-operative care is included. When comparing, check what each price actually covers rather than the headline figure.