Buccal Lipectomy

Q: Dr. Eppley, Can you please tell me if you perform buccal lipectomy and if so, how many he has performed? Thank you.

A: I have performed well over a 100 cases of buccal lipectomy procedures in the past twenty years. A buccal lipectomy surgery is very straightforward and uncomplicated to perform. There is no real risk to performing the procedure and I have only seen one infection in my 100 plus cases. (1% infection risk) I have not seen any cases of buccal nerve injury.

The key to a successful buccal lipectomy is one of patient selection. Determining who will and who will not benefit from the external facial change that the procedure can create has both short and long-term implications. The concern today with a buccal lipectomy is that it may result in facial gauntness as one ages. Since facial fat is lost as one ages, removal of the buccal fat pads in youth can result in a sunken face look decades later. This is why it should be only considered with caution in younger leaner people. It is ideally best done for patients that have fuller rounder faces who appear to be genetically predisposed to a natural rounder face

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana