What Can Make My Face Look Thinner?

Q:  Dr. Eppley, I would to make my face less fat. It is very round and the fattest area is on the side of my face. It gets a lot better when I suck my cheeks in as this seems to draw in the area where it is the fattest. What is the best procedure to get rid of this facial fat?

A: It is always a little unclear to me when a patient says the ‘ side of their face’, that can mean different things to different people and is of particular significance when one wants a defatting or thinning procedure. Having said that I have a strong suspicion when you mean the equivalent of when you suck your ‘cheeks’ in means the entire side of your face….of which there is no surgical procedure that can accomplish that look completely. There are some areas that make up a portion of the side of the face that can be improved by liposuction. The perioral mound area extends from the corner of the mouth back about halfway between the corner of the mouth and the ear, which is the anterior half of that area. For fullness that goes all the way to the back to the ear, there is no solution.

You would be best off to consider subtotal buccal lipectomies and perioral and lateral facial liposuction. But it will never equate to the contouring or thinning effect of sucking in one’s cheeks.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana