Will A Midface Lift Create A Sharper Cheekbone Appearance?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I was curious about your opinion on the possibility of reducing or tightening the malar fat pad (I believe that’s the deep medial cheek fat) in the male face to create a more skeletal contour from the three-quarter view, potentially through some type of facelift or midface suspension procedure. In the attached photo, the patient underwent a facelift with fat grafting that created a fuller, more uniformly convex contour in the cheekbone + cheek area, which I think looks great on women. What I’m wondering is whether the opposite effect can be achieved for a man: preserving the prominence and convex contour of the cheekbone while creating more concavity in the area below it, resulting in a sharper, more concave, skeletal appearance. I’m especially interested in whether this can be accomplished primarily through soft-tissue repositioning/reduction rather than cheekbone augmentation or implants. Thanks in advance!

A:In short you cannot lift your way into improved skeletal contours of the midface. You either have to augment the cheekbone area or do tissue removal beneath it. The concept of trying to lift the fat pad up to create a submalar concavity is fundamentally flawed.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Plastic Surgeon