In such a procedure, a small pad of fat is cut from both cheeks. And thanks to celebrities like US model Chrissy Teigen (37) and the social media platform TikTok, that’s becoming increasingly popular. But the German specialist for plastic and aesthetic surgery Detlev Hebebrand warns against it. “One should definitely discourage young people from doing that,” says the President of the Association of German Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons in Berlin.
Hebebrand has performed buccal fat removal about ten times so far. But the demand is increasing, he observes – “especially among people between 20 and 25”. For the doctor, this is a “terrible trend, because many patients of this age cannot foresee the long-term consequences”.
A bichectomy – as it is called in German – is a relatively simple procedure that lasts only half an hour and can be carried out “well under local anaesthetic”. Problems could arise years later, however, when the skin’s tension decreases: “You basically create a gaunt face. It’s nice at a certain time, but later on a face like that can look very aged,” explains the doctor.
However, TikTok users who have already watched videos with the hashtag “#buccalfatremoval” 182 million times (as of June 2023) don’t find out anything about this. Instead, countless before-and-after comparisons of young women are circulating on the platform, most of whom have had several facial surgeries.
Other clips feature celebrities like model Bella Hadid (26) or actress Zoë Kravitz (34), whose cheekbones look modeled. So far, however, only one well-known beauty has admitted to such an intervention. “Yes, I did, so what?” model Chrissy Teigen explained on Instagram in 2021. According to Hebebrand, the costs are between 1,800 and 2,500 euros.
