Will My Cheeks Sag After Cheekbone Reduction?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am extremely concerned about sagging after cheekbone reduction surgery. The doctor reduced a large amount of my zygoma, about 6 to 8mms. Would this increase my chance of cheek sagging? I had previous buccal fat and facial liposuction. I am worried that I have a higher chance of sagging now. Also, I am 3 weeks after surgery. There is still quite a bit of swelling in my cheeks although a lot of the swelling has gone down. Could you give some rough guidelines as to when the swelling subsides? E.g,  2 to 3 weeks major swelling, 2 months 80% swelling goes down etc.? I greatly appreciate your input. Many thanks!

A: The proper time to asssess the result after any type of facial skeletal surgery, such as cheekbone reduction, is three months. My general guidelines is that 50% of the swelling goes down in 10 days, 70% by 3 weeks, 80% to 90% by 6 weeks and 100% by three months after surgery. Reducing your zygoma width by 6 to 8mms has a high chance of having some cheek sagging afterwards. Done bilaterally that is removing a lot of the cheek tissue support for the middle of the face. But time will tell. No one can say now whether it will or won’t.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana