April 25, 2023
Hubbub About the Buccal Fat Pad
Once an unknown niche procedure, buccal fat pad removal is now everywhere in the media. Buccal fat pad removal surgery allows us to flatten the cheeks of somebody who has "chipmunk cheeks," reducing the bulge below the cheek mound to be relatively flat or just slightly concave.
Mostly for young adults, this surgery can be a powerful tool for facial shaping when the right amount of fat is removed. But if too much fat is removed or the patient does not have enough fat to begin with, it can result in an unnatural look.
As you get older, all facial fat pads, including the buccal fat pads, lose volume and we don't want to “burn our bridges” for your future appearance, we want to look good both now and later.
Learn the reality of what buccal fat pads are, how they are removed, and the good and bad sides of how removing them might affect your appearance.
About Dr. Lawrence Bass
Innovator. Industry veteran. In-demand Park Avenue board certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Lawrence Bass is a true master of his craft, not only in the OR but as an industry pioneer in the development and evaluation of new aesthetic technologies. With locations in both Manhattan (on Park Avenue between 62nd and 63rd Streets) and in Great Neck, Long Island, Dr. Bass has earned his reputation as the plastic surgeon for the most discerning patients in NYC and beyond.
To learn more, visit the Bass Plastic Surgery website or follow the team on Instagram @drbassnyc
Subscribe to the Park Avenue Plastic Surgery Class newsletter to be notified of new episodes & receive exclusive invitations, offers, and information from Dr. Bass.
1
00:00:00,630 --> 00:00:03,300
Welcome to Park Avenue
Plastic Surgery Class,
2
00:00:03,570 --> 00:00:07,260
the podcast where we explore controversies
and breaking issues in plastic
3
00:00:07,261 --> 00:00:09,720
surgery. I'm your co-host Doreen Wu,
4
00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:13,110
a clinical assistant at Bass
Plastic Surgery in New York City.
5
00:00:13,590 --> 00:00:18,000
I'm excited to be here with Dr. Lawrence
Bass, Park Avenue plastic surgeon,
6
00:00:18,330 --> 00:00:20,460
educator, and technology innovator.
7
00:00:20,730 --> 00:00:24,900
The title of today's episode is
Hubub about the buccal fat pad.
8
00:00:25,950 --> 00:00:28,710
Okay, Dr. Bass, you've
piqued my curiosity.
9
00:00:28,980 --> 00:00:32,460
What is the buccal fat pad and why
is there so much hubub about it?
10
00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:35,280
I promise to answer that question,
11
00:00:35,281 --> 00:00:39,990
but let me give you a little background
first so our listeners can understand
12
00:00:39,991 --> 00:00:40,824
the issues.
13
00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:47,550
A lot of the shape of our face
is formed by fat pads in the
14
00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:52,200
face. We start with our bone and muscle,
15
00:00:52,470 --> 00:00:57,450
but on top of that we have multiple fat
16
00:00:57,451 --> 00:00:59,940
pads and not just multiple fat pads,
17
00:00:59,941 --> 00:01:04,110
but but more than one layer of fat pads.
18
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:10,050
So we've understood that that's part of
face shape and we kind of know that our
19
00:01:10,060 --> 00:01:14,370
cheeks and other parts of our face have
some fat in there that gives shape.
20
00:01:15,270 --> 00:01:19,530
But we learned more and more about this
anatomy over time. And in particular,
21
00:01:19,531 --> 00:01:24,120
a plastic surgeon in Texas
named Dr. Joel Pessa did
22
00:01:24,420 --> 00:01:29,070
a lot of facial dissections
in cadavers to really
23
00:01:29,071 --> 00:01:32,400
outline exactly which fat pads,
24
00:01:32,401 --> 00:01:36,930
how they're compartmented
so that we understand
25
00:01:36,990 --> 00:01:40,980
what building blocks go
into forming facial shape.
26
00:01:41,910 --> 00:01:43,320
Now, of course,
27
00:01:43,321 --> 00:01:47,820
everything changes with aging
and what changes in these fat
28
00:01:47,821 --> 00:01:51,300
pads is that they shrink.
29
00:01:51,450 --> 00:01:55,140
We get volume loss and they descend.
30
00:01:56,340 --> 00:01:59,970
But all of the fat pads
will do that differential.
31
00:02:00,180 --> 00:02:03,630
They don't shrink the same amount and
they don't descend the same amount.
32
00:02:03,810 --> 00:02:05,100
So when we're young,
33
00:02:05,101 --> 00:02:09,600
even though we have all
of these different little
34
00:02:09,630 --> 00:02:14,220
building blocks making up the shape
of our face that looks confluent
35
00:02:14,250 --> 00:02:18,960
and smooth as we age and they shrink
36
00:02:19,470 --> 00:02:23,760
in a variable fashion and
descend in a variable fashion,
37
00:02:24,630 --> 00:02:28,800
we now get sags and bags
and lumps and bumps.
38
00:02:29,310 --> 00:02:34,200
And so we now see more
of the shape of those fat
39
00:02:34,201 --> 00:02:38,280
pads and more unevenness and irregularity.
40
00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:45,120
Thank you for the explanation of the
important role that fat can play in facial
41
00:02:45,121 --> 00:02:49,680
shape. Now I'm wondering how is
fat modified by plastic surgeons?
42
00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:56,100
Well, really in two ways and we can
either increase it or decrease it.
43
00:02:56,700 --> 00:03:01,000
And of course it's very important how
much and exactly where you do those
44
00:03:01,001 --> 00:03:04,090
things. You need control over all of that.
45
00:03:05,260 --> 00:03:08,380
So we, we take
46
00:03:10,990 --> 00:03:14,530
rounded facial shapes,
basically convexity,
47
00:03:15,700 --> 00:03:20,650
and we can sculpt and
sharpened some of those
48
00:03:20,651 --> 00:03:21,484
shapes.
49
00:03:21,940 --> 00:03:26,440
And we mostly do not do
that with liposuction.
50
00:03:26,950 --> 00:03:31,540
We certainly liposuction the neck that's
frequently done and works very well,
51
00:03:31,541 --> 00:03:36,040
and we occasionally
minimally do it in the gel.
52
00:03:37,420 --> 00:03:40,150
But separate from that,
53
00:03:40,151 --> 00:03:44,680
we're often building back a
shape that has flattened out lost
54
00:03:44,690 --> 00:03:46,460
projection with aging.
55
00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,070
The example of the buccal fat pad though,
56
00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:55,540
is where we get chipmunk cheeks.
57
00:03:55,570 --> 00:04:00,490
If the fat pad is too big and we
58
00:04:00,491 --> 00:04:03,400
typically like to see some hollowing,
59
00:04:03,401 --> 00:04:06,850
we want underneath the cheek mound,
60
00:04:07,570 --> 00:04:12,130
we want that area to be
relatively flat or just slightly
61
00:04:12,131 --> 00:04:16,570
concave. We don't want it to be
convex because that's chipmunk cheeks.
62
00:04:17,170 --> 00:04:20,470
And so by doing a buccal fat pad excision,
63
00:04:20,500 --> 00:04:25,450
we can take somebody who
is too rounded in that area
64
00:04:25,451 --> 00:04:29,650
under the the cheek itself
and we can flatten them.
65
00:04:30,970 --> 00:04:33,790
How is the buccal fat pad excision done?
66
00:04:33,791 --> 00:04:35,980
Can you break it down for
the average layperson?
67
00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:42,010
Make an incision about as
wide as somebody's fingernail
68
00:04:42,370 --> 00:04:47,020
inside the mouth just by
the molars in the back.
69
00:04:48,130 --> 00:04:52,720
And through that incision we
can access the buccal fat pad.
70
00:04:52,721 --> 00:04:57,580
The buccal fat pad is not
accessible for liposuctioning.
71
00:04:57,581 --> 00:05:02,500
It's not a superficial fat pad right
under the skin. It's a deeper fat pad.
72
00:05:03,220 --> 00:05:07,750
So from inside the mouth through that
small incision, we can access the fat pad.
73
00:05:08,710 --> 00:05:13,210
Then we grab some of the
fat and gently tease it out,
74
00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,580
trim a little bit of that fat off and
look at what kind of contour we've got,
75
00:05:18,581 --> 00:05:22,320
and then we can trim a little more.
So it's good to do this incrementally,
76
00:05:23,290 --> 00:05:25,600
not take a huge amount at once,
77
00:05:26,950 --> 00:05:31,720
assess the effects so that you know,
it's like Goldilocks and the three bears.
78
00:05:31,730 --> 00:05:34,660
So not too much, not
too little, just right.
79
00:05:34,661 --> 00:05:38,480
And by doing it a little bit at a
time, we can get to that endpoint.
80
00:05:41,910 --> 00:05:42,401
Okay,
81
00:05:42,401 --> 00:05:46,930
so I now have a clearer picture of the
process and what the results should look
82
00:05:46,931 --> 00:05:47,680
like.
83
00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:52,300
But can you explain why this has been in
social media a lot lately and what the
84
00:05:52,301 --> 00:05:54,970
controversy surrounding
buccal fat removal is?
85
00:05:56,050 --> 00:06:01,010
The issue discussed in social media
revolves around the unnatural look
86
00:06:01,250 --> 00:06:06,200
that some celebrities and some other
folks have obtained after buccal fat pad
87
00:06:06,740 --> 00:06:07,573
excision.
88
00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,990
And basically it's the
result of over hollowing.
89
00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:17,360
If a little is good, more must
be better, not necessarily true.
90
00:06:18,110 --> 00:06:22,430
And some people have been over hollowed
or may not have been particularly con
91
00:06:23,300 --> 00:06:24,260
convex to begin with,
92
00:06:24,380 --> 00:06:27,980
and maybe were not a good candidate
for buccal fat pad removal.
93
00:06:28,780 --> 00:06:33,590
And this is a modern version of the
mistake that was made decades ago with
94
00:06:33,591 --> 00:06:37,940
liposuction in the face.
We learned in the 1980s,
95
00:06:37,941 --> 00:06:42,800
which sort of predates me as a plastic
surgeon that liposuctioning the
96
00:06:42,810 --> 00:06:46,040
face was a bad idea,
created an unnatural look,
97
00:06:46,370 --> 00:06:48,050
an over hollowed look.
98
00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,940
And sometimes you see that immediately
and sometimes it's something that shows
99
00:06:52,941 --> 00:06:56,750
up a decade or more
later as you slowly age.
100
00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:02,390
But the idea is just like what I
said about the Goldilocks principle,
101
00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:07,370
that we want a certain contour and
102
00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:12,770
ramping that contour to an extreme
degree creates an unnatural look and
103
00:07:12,771 --> 00:07:13,700
is a mistake.
104
00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:19,220
What's your take on this procedure,
Dr. Bass? Is it good or bad?
105
00:07:19,490 --> 00:07:21,890
Is it something to be pursued or avoided?
106
00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,630
So like everything we
do in plastic surgery,
107
00:07:26,631 --> 00:07:31,580
it's about balance and harmony
and some sense of planning for
108
00:07:31,581 --> 00:07:35,570
the future. You know, we don't want
to burn our bridges in the future.
109
00:07:35,580 --> 00:07:39,380
We look good right now, but we
look like a rack down the line.
110
00:07:39,410 --> 00:07:40,880
That's not a good trade off.
111
00:07:42,020 --> 00:07:46,970
So this is the classic Goldilocks
principle. Not too much, not too little,
112
00:07:47,330 --> 00:07:48,163
just right.
113
00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,960
And the amount that we're typically
excising in a buccal fat pad excision is
114
00:07:54,740 --> 00:07:59,180
a tablespoon or at most two tablespoons.
115
00:08:00,230 --> 00:08:04,700
It's not a good idea to go in there
and get a big clean out of fat
116
00:08:05,660 --> 00:08:10,370
because that's going to look unnatural
over hollowed or even pinched in
117
00:08:11,690 --> 00:08:13,550
early in the game, not even with aging.
118
00:08:14,810 --> 00:08:18,380
That makes a lot of sense.
Balance is always key. All right.
119
00:08:18,390 --> 00:08:21,140
So we've reached the takeaways
portion of the episode.
120
00:08:21,650 --> 00:08:22,940
Can you bottom line it for me?
121
00:08:23,030 --> 00:08:26,840
What is some good advice for our listeners
in regard to this area of the face?
122
00:08:27,530 --> 00:08:32,150
So buccal fat pad excision is a
very useful and powerful tool for
123
00:08:32,750 --> 00:08:36,650
facial shaping and something
we use mostly in young adults.
124
00:08:37,940 --> 00:08:42,570
The typical results are
passing you in the street in
125
00:08:42,571 --> 00:08:46,100
a city like New York every
day and look perfectly
126
00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,590
natural. Any kind of
extreme or overdone surgery,
127
00:08:51,590 --> 00:08:55,650
and this is true in buccal fat pad
surgery as well as in all of plastic
128
00:08:57,090 --> 00:08:57,630
surgery,
129
00:08:57,630 --> 00:09:02,340
that kind of overdone look is a bad
idea both in terms of the immediate
130
00:09:03,150 --> 00:09:06,240
appearance and the late
appearance as well.
131
00:09:07,740 --> 00:09:11,940
So it's always a good idea to work with
an experienced plastic surgeon who can
132
00:09:12,630 --> 00:09:15,180
analyze your face, look at the shape,
133
00:09:16,260 --> 00:09:21,120
create something that harmonizes
with your other features rather than
134
00:09:21,630 --> 00:09:25,710
something that clashes with
your existing features.
135
00:09:26,220 --> 00:09:30,990
So this accents your appearance
softens some discordant
136
00:09:31,650 --> 00:09:32,483
or
137
00:09:35,460 --> 00:09:37,560
over obvious facial
138
00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:41,610
attributes blending undesirable ones.
139
00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,360
Thank you Dr. Bass. After this discussion,
140
00:09:45,361 --> 00:09:49,830
I now realize how big of an impact a
single small component of facial anatomy
141
00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:51,090
can have on our appearance.
142
00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:55,290
Thank you for listening to the Park
Avenue Plastic Surgery Class podcast.
143
00:09:55,710 --> 00:09:57,930
Follow us on Apple
Podcasts, write a review,
144
00:09:57,931 --> 00:09:59,310
and share the show with your friends.
145
00:09:59,730 --> 00:10:02,820
Be sure to join us next time to avoid
missing all the great content that's
146
00:10:02,821 --> 00:10:06,360
coming your way. If you want to
contact us with comments or questions,
147
00:10:06,370 --> 00:10:07,230
we'd love to hear from you.
148
00:10:07,740 --> 00:10:11,940
Send us an email at podcast@drbass.net
or DM us on Instagram,
149
00:10:12,940 --> 00:10:13,260
@drbassnyc.
00:00:00,630 --> 00:00:03,300
Welcome to Park Avenue
Plastic Surgery Class,
2
00:00:03,570 --> 00:00:07,260
the podcast where we explore controversies
and breaking issues in plastic
3
00:00:07,261 --> 00:00:09,720
surgery. I'm your co-host Doreen Wu,
4
00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:13,110
a clinical assistant at Bass
Plastic Surgery in New York City.
5
00:00:13,590 --> 00:00:18,000
I'm excited to be here with Dr. Lawrence
Bass, Park Avenue plastic surgeon,
6
00:00:18,330 --> 00:00:20,460
educator, and technology innovator.
7
00:00:20,730 --> 00:00:24,900
The title of today's episode is
Hubub about the buccal fat pad.
8
00:00:25,950 --> 00:00:28,710
Okay, Dr. Bass, you've
piqued my curiosity.
9
00:00:28,980 --> 00:00:32,460
What is the buccal fat pad and why
is there so much hubub about it?
10
00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:35,280
I promise to answer that question,
11
00:00:35,281 --> 00:00:39,990
but let me give you a little background
first so our listeners can understand
12
00:00:39,991 --> 00:00:40,824
the issues.
13
00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:47,550
A lot of the shape of our face
is formed by fat pads in the
14
00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:52,200
face. We start with our bone and muscle,
15
00:00:52,470 --> 00:00:57,450
but on top of that we have multiple fat
16
00:00:57,451 --> 00:00:59,940
pads and not just multiple fat pads,
17
00:00:59,941 --> 00:01:04,110
but but more than one layer of fat pads.
18
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:10,050
So we've understood that that's part of
face shape and we kind of know that our
19
00:01:10,060 --> 00:01:14,370
cheeks and other parts of our face have
some fat in there that gives shape.
20
00:01:15,270 --> 00:01:19,530
But we learned more and more about this
anatomy over time. And in particular,
21
00:01:19,531 --> 00:01:24,120
a plastic surgeon in Texas
named Dr. Joel Pessa did
22
00:01:24,420 --> 00:01:29,070
a lot of facial dissections
in cadavers to really
23
00:01:29,071 --> 00:01:32,400
outline exactly which fat pads,
24
00:01:32,401 --> 00:01:36,930
how they're compartmented
so that we understand
25
00:01:36,990 --> 00:01:40,980
what building blocks go
into forming facial shape.
26
00:01:41,910 --> 00:01:43,320
Now, of course,
27
00:01:43,321 --> 00:01:47,820
everything changes with aging
and what changes in these fat
28
00:01:47,821 --> 00:01:51,300
pads is that they shrink.
29
00:01:51,450 --> 00:01:55,140
We get volume loss and they descend.
30
00:01:56,340 --> 00:01:59,970
But all of the fat pads
will do that differential.
31
00:02:00,180 --> 00:02:03,630
They don't shrink the same amount and
they don't descend the same amount.
32
00:02:03,810 --> 00:02:05,100
So when we're young,
33
00:02:05,101 --> 00:02:09,600
even though we have all
of these different little
34
00:02:09,630 --> 00:02:14,220
building blocks making up the shape
of our face that looks confluent
35
00:02:14,250 --> 00:02:18,960
and smooth as we age and they shrink
36
00:02:19,470 --> 00:02:23,760
in a variable fashion and
descend in a variable fashion,
37
00:02:24,630 --> 00:02:28,800
we now get sags and bags
and lumps and bumps.
38
00:02:29,310 --> 00:02:34,200
And so we now see more
of the shape of those fat
39
00:02:34,201 --> 00:02:38,280
pads and more unevenness and irregularity.
40
00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:45,120
Thank you for the explanation of the
important role that fat can play in facial
41
00:02:45,121 --> 00:02:49,680
shape. Now I'm wondering how is
fat modified by plastic surgeons?
42
00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:56,100
Well, really in two ways and we can
either increase it or decrease it.
43
00:02:56,700 --> 00:03:01,000
And of course it's very important how
much and exactly where you do those
44
00:03:01,001 --> 00:03:04,090
things. You need control over all of that.
45
00:03:05,260 --> 00:03:08,380
So we, we take
46
00:03:10,990 --> 00:03:14,530
rounded facial shapes,
basically convexity,
47
00:03:15,700 --> 00:03:20,650
and we can sculpt and
sharpened some of those
48
00:03:20,651 --> 00:03:21,484
shapes.
49
00:03:21,940 --> 00:03:26,440
And we mostly do not do
that with liposuction.
50
00:03:26,950 --> 00:03:31,540
We certainly liposuction the neck that's
frequently done and works very well,
51
00:03:31,541 --> 00:03:36,040
and we occasionally
minimally do it in the gel.
52
00:03:37,420 --> 00:03:40,150
But separate from that,
53
00:03:40,151 --> 00:03:44,680
we're often building back a
shape that has flattened out lost
54
00:03:44,690 --> 00:03:46,460
projection with aging.
55
00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,070
The example of the buccal fat pad though,
56
00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:55,540
is where we get chipmunk cheeks.
57
00:03:55,570 --> 00:04:00,490
If the fat pad is too big and we
58
00:04:00,491 --> 00:04:03,400
typically like to see some hollowing,
59
00:04:03,401 --> 00:04:06,850
we want underneath the cheek mound,
60
00:04:07,570 --> 00:04:12,130
we want that area to be
relatively flat or just slightly
61
00:04:12,131 --> 00:04:16,570
concave. We don't want it to be
convex because that's chipmunk cheeks.
62
00:04:17,170 --> 00:04:20,470
And so by doing a buccal fat pad excision,
63
00:04:20,500 --> 00:04:25,450
we can take somebody who
is too rounded in that area
64
00:04:25,451 --> 00:04:29,650
under the the cheek itself
and we can flatten them.
65
00:04:30,970 --> 00:04:33,790
How is the buccal fat pad excision done?
66
00:04:33,791 --> 00:04:35,980
Can you break it down for
the average layperson?
67
00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:42,010
Make an incision about as
wide as somebody's fingernail
68
00:04:42,370 --> 00:04:47,020
inside the mouth just by
the molars in the back.
69
00:04:48,130 --> 00:04:52,720
And through that incision we
can access the buccal fat pad.
70
00:04:52,721 --> 00:04:57,580
The buccal fat pad is not
accessible for liposuctioning.
71
00:04:57,581 --> 00:05:02,500
It's not a superficial fat pad right
under the skin. It's a deeper fat pad.
72
00:05:03,220 --> 00:05:07,750
So from inside the mouth through that
small incision, we can access the fat pad.
73
00:05:08,710 --> 00:05:13,210
Then we grab some of the
fat and gently tease it out,
74
00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,580
trim a little bit of that fat off and
look at what kind of contour we've got,
75
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and then we can trim a little more.
So it's good to do this incrementally,
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not take a huge amount at once,
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assess the effects so that you know,
it's like Goldilocks and the three bears.
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So not too much, not
too little, just right.
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00:05:34,661 --> 00:05:38,480
And by doing it a little bit at a
time, we can get to that endpoint.
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Okay,
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so I now have a clearer picture of the
process and what the results should look
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like.
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00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:52,300
But can you explain why this has been in
social media a lot lately and what the
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00:05:52,301 --> 00:05:54,970
controversy surrounding
buccal fat removal is?
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00:05:56,050 --> 00:06:01,010
The issue discussed in social media
revolves around the unnatural look
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00:06:01,250 --> 00:06:06,200
that some celebrities and some other
folks have obtained after buccal fat pad
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00:06:06,740 --> 00:06:07,573
excision.
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00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,990
And basically it's the
result of over hollowing.
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00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:17,360
If a little is good, more must
be better, not necessarily true.
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00:06:18,110 --> 00:06:22,430
And some people have been over hollowed
or may not have been particularly con
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00:06:23,300 --> 00:06:24,260
convex to begin with,
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00:06:24,380 --> 00:06:27,980
and maybe were not a good candidate
for buccal fat pad removal.
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00:06:28,780 --> 00:06:33,590
And this is a modern version of the
mistake that was made decades ago with
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00:06:33,591 --> 00:06:37,940
liposuction in the face.
We learned in the 1980s,
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00:06:37,941 --> 00:06:42,800
which sort of predates me as a plastic
surgeon that liposuctioning the
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00:06:42,810 --> 00:06:46,040
face was a bad idea,
created an unnatural look,
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00:06:46,370 --> 00:06:48,050
an over hollowed look.
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00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,940
And sometimes you see that immediately
and sometimes it's something that shows
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00:06:52,941 --> 00:06:56,750
up a decade or more
later as you slowly age.
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00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:02,390
But the idea is just like what I
said about the Goldilocks principle,
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that we want a certain contour and
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ramping that contour to an extreme
degree creates an unnatural look and
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is a mistake.
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What's your take on this procedure,
Dr. Bass? Is it good or bad?
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00:07:19,490 --> 00:07:21,890
Is it something to be pursued or avoided?
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00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:26,630
So like everything we
do in plastic surgery,
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00:07:26,631 --> 00:07:31,580
it's about balance and harmony
and some sense of planning for
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00:07:31,581 --> 00:07:35,570
the future. You know, we don't want
to burn our bridges in the future.
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We look good right now, but we
look like a rack down the line.
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00:07:39,410 --> 00:07:40,880
That's not a good trade off.
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00:07:42,020 --> 00:07:46,970
So this is the classic Goldilocks
principle. Not too much, not too little,
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just right.
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00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,960
And the amount that we're typically
excising in a buccal fat pad excision is
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a tablespoon or at most two tablespoons.
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00:08:00,230 --> 00:08:04,700
It's not a good idea to go in there
and get a big clean out of fat
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00:08:05,660 --> 00:08:10,370
because that's going to look unnatural
over hollowed or even pinched in
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00:08:11,690 --> 00:08:13,550
early in the game, not even with aging.
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00:08:14,810 --> 00:08:18,380
That makes a lot of sense.
Balance is always key. All right.
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00:08:18,390 --> 00:08:21,140
So we've reached the takeaways
portion of the episode.
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Can you bottom line it for me?
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What is some good advice for our listeners
in regard to this area of the face?
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00:08:27,530 --> 00:08:32,150
So buccal fat pad excision is a
very useful and powerful tool for
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00:08:32,750 --> 00:08:36,650
facial shaping and something
we use mostly in young adults.
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00:08:37,940 --> 00:08:42,570
The typical results are
passing you in the street in
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00:08:42,571 --> 00:08:46,100
a city like New York every
day and look perfectly
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00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,590
natural. Any kind of
extreme or overdone surgery,
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00:08:51,590 --> 00:08:55,650
and this is true in buccal fat pad
surgery as well as in all of plastic
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00:08:57,090 --> 00:08:57,630
surgery,
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00:08:57,630 --> 00:09:02,340
that kind of overdone look is a bad
idea both in terms of the immediate
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00:09:03,150 --> 00:09:06,240
appearance and the late
appearance as well.
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00:09:07,740 --> 00:09:11,940
So it's always a good idea to work with
an experienced plastic surgeon who can
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00:09:12,630 --> 00:09:15,180
analyze your face, look at the shape,
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00:09:16,260 --> 00:09:21,120
create something that harmonizes
with your other features rather than
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00:09:21,630 --> 00:09:25,710
something that clashes with
your existing features.
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00:09:26,220 --> 00:09:30,990
So this accents your appearance
softens some discordant
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00:09:31,650 --> 00:09:32,483
or
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00:09:35,460 --> 00:09:37,560
over obvious facial
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00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:41,610
attributes blending undesirable ones.
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00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,360
Thank you Dr. Bass. After this discussion,
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00:09:45,361 --> 00:09:49,830
I now realize how big of an impact a
single small component of facial anatomy
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00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:51,090
can have on our appearance.
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00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:55,290
Thank you for listening to the Park
Avenue Plastic Surgery Class podcast.
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00:09:55,710 --> 00:09:57,930
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00:09:57,931 --> 00:09:59,310
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00:10:02,821 --> 00:10:06,360
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00:10:06,370 --> 00:10:07,230
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00:10:12,940 --> 00:10:13,260
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