Are the results of buccal fat removal permanent?

Yes, the results of buccal fat removal are permanent: the portion of the buccal fat pad that is removed does not grow back. The face keeps aging from its new starting point and the cheeks lose more fat on their own over the decades, which is why the removal is kept conservative. A large weight gain can enlarge the fat that remains.

Is buccal fat removal covered by insurance?

No. Buccal fat removal is an elective cosmetic procedure, so insurance does not cover it, and the practice does not bill insurance. The practice's financing partners are Cherry, CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit, and the $500 consultation fee is credited toward the surgery. The full cost is quoted in writing at the consultation.

Is buccal fat removal the same as a buccal lipectomy?

Yes. Buccal lipectomy is the medical name for buccal fat removal: the removal of part of the buccal fat pad, the deep pocket of fat in each cheek, through an incision inside the mouth. It is also called buccal fat pad removal, buccal fat reduction or cheek reduction surgery. At Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery it is performed by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon.

Is buccal fat removal painful?

Buccal fat removal is not very painful. The operation is done under local anesthesia, with or without sedation, so you feel pressure rather than pain, and afterward the cheeks feel tight and swollen, like the soreness after dental work. Most patients manage with Tylenol, a soft diet and cold compresses for the first few days; the discomfort fades within about a week.

How long is buccal fat removal recovery?

Buccal fat removal recovery takes about one to two weeks for the swelling to settle. Swelling peaks at about day three, a liquid or soft diet and antiseptic mouth rinses protect the incision for the first days, desk work resumes within a few days, and full exercise returns at about two to three weeks. The final contour shows at two to three months.

Does buccal fat removal leave scars?

No visible scar. The buccal fat removal incision is about a centimeter long in the lining of the cheek inside the mouth, opposite the upper back teeth, and it is closed with dissolvable sutures that come away on their own within about two weeks. The lining of the mouth heals quickly, and nothing shows from outside.

Do people regret buccal fat removal?

Some people regret buccal fat removal, almost always because too much was removed or because it was done on a face that was thin or long to begin with; years later, as the face loses fat with age, the cheeks look hollow. The protection is selection and restraint: a conservative, partial removal in a full-cheeked face, and a no when the face is not suited.

Does buccal fat removal make you look older?

Buccal fat removal can make you look older if too much is removed or if your face is already thin, because the cheeks hollow further as the face loses fat with age. In a full lower cheek, a conservative removal that takes part of the pad defines the face without aging it. The consultation is where the two cases are told apart.

Buccal fat removal or chin liposuction: which one do I need?

Buccal fat removal treats the round fullness of the lower cheek below the cheekbone; chin liposuction treats the fat under the chin that blunts the angle between the chin and the neck. Whichever area holds the fullness is the one to treat, and some patients need both. Our facial plastic surgeon's fee is $6,000 for buccal fat removal and $5,000 for neck liposuction.

Who performs buccal fat removal at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery?

Our board-certified facial plastic surgeon performs buccal fat removal at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery, in the practice's office under local anesthesia or in its QUAD A accredited surgery center on Rodeo Drive. He has been a colleague of Dr. Cat Begovic for more than a decade, and the practice's standard for every facial result is the same: natural, conservative, and like yourself.

Buccal Fat Removal Beverly Hills | Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery

Q: How much does buccal fat removal cost in Beverly Hills?

Buccal fat removal at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery in Beverly Hills is our facial plastic surgeon's fee of $6,000, with the operating room and anesthesia quoted at the consultation, so the written quote is one figure. The consultation is $500, credited toward the surgery. Insurance does not cover buccal fat removal; financing through Cherry, CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit is available.

Q: Is buccal fat removal done under local anesthesia?

Yes, buccal fat removal on its own is done under local anesthesia, with or without sedation, in the practice's office or its surgery center on Rodeo Drive; the setting is decided at the consultation with our facial plastic surgeon. When it is combined with other facial surgery, it is done under general anesthesia with a board-certified anesthesiologist in the practice's QUAD A accredited surgery center.

Buccal Fat Removal in Beverly Hills

Buccal lipectomy (buccal fat removal: part of the buccal fat pad removed through an incision inside the mouth to slim the lower cheek) performed by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery, the Beverly Hills practice of Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACS, board-certified plastic surgeon

Buccal fat removal (buccal lipectomy) slims the lower cheek by removing part of the buccal fat pad, the deep pocket of fat that sits beneath the cheekbone between the muscles of the cheek, through a small incision inside the mouth: no scar shows, the round fullness below the cheekbone flattens, and the line from the cheekbone to the jaw gains definition. At Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery, the Beverly Hills practice of Dr. Cat Begovic, it is performed by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon.

Our facial plastic surgeon's fee for buccal fat removal is $6,000; the operating room and anesthesia are quoted at the consultation, so your written quote is one figure. Surgeon's fees are typical ranges: a more complex case can cost more, and your fee is set at your consultation and is final only in your written quote. The operation takes about an hour under local anesthesia, with or without sedation, in the practice's office or its surgery center on Rodeo Drive, and most patients are back at a desk within a few days, with the swelling largely settled at one to two weeks.

15-minute Patient Concierge call, no obligation. The consultation with our facial plastic surgeon is $500, credited toward your surgery.

Medically reviewed by Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACS

Board-certified plastic surgeon, trained in both head and neck surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery. Harvard-educated, UCLA trained. Updated October 3, 2026

What buccal fat removal here is built on

Four decisions that separate a defined cheek from a hollow one.

A partial removal, never the whole padThe portion that protrudes is removed and the extensions are left, because the face keeps losing fat on its own and what is taken cannot be put back.

A facial plastic surgeonPerformed by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon, whose whole practice is surgery of the face.

The right operation, or noneThe fullness is sorted into fat, muscle, bone or weight at the consultation; buccal fat removal is offered only for fat.

Office or surgery center, decided on youLocal anesthesia with or without sedation in the practice's office, or its QUAD A accredited surgery center with a board-certified anesthesiologist when surgery is combined.

What is buccal fat removal?

The buccal fat pad (Bichat's fat pad) is a deep, encapsulated pocket of fat in each cheek. It sits below the cheekbone, between the buccinator muscle that lines the mouth and the masseter muscle that closes the jaw, with extensions that reach toward the temple and along the jaw. It lies under the muscle, not on the surface, which is why diet does little to it and a slim person can still have full lower cheeks. Its size is largely genetic, it is fullest in childhood, and it slims on its own through the twenties and thirties.

Buccal fat removal (buccal lipectomy) removes a portion of the pad through an incision in the lining of the cheek, inside the mouth. Taking part of the pad narrows the lower cheek: the fullness beneath the cheekbone flattens, the cheekbone reads higher, and a soft hollow runs from below it toward the corner of the mouth. Buccal fat removal in Beverly Hills at Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery is a conservative operation: the surgeon takes the portion that protrudes, never the whole pad, because the face loses fat on its own with every decade. The removed fat does not return.

Who is a good candidate for buccal fat removal?

The test is what the fullness is made of. Suck your cheeks in: the hollow that appears beneath the cheekbone is roughly where the buccal fat pad sits, and roughly the change a conservative removal makes. Clench your teeth and press the angle of the jaw: a block that hardens is masseter muscle, and a wide face at rest is bone. Only the first is what buccal fat removal treats.

You may be a good candidate if

Round, full lower cheeks of fat rather than muscle or bone in an otherwise slim face: the baby face that has outlasted your twenties
A weight that has been stable for several months
An adult face, usually the mid-twenties or older, that has stopped slimming on its own
A pseudoherniation: a soft lump where the pad has pushed through a weak spot in its capsule, corrected by the same operation
Good health, no nicotine, and the expectation of a subtle change rather than a new face

Not yet, or a different plan, if

A thin, long or narrow face, or one already hollowing beneath the cheekbones: removal would age it
Fullness at the angle of the jaw that hardens when you clench: masseter, which Botox slims
A full face that is really extra weight: reach a stable weight first
Fullness under the chin or along the jawline: chin liposuction, or a neck lift once the skin has loosened
Hemifacial atrophy (Parry-Romberg syndrome), a moving weight, or nicotine you cannot stop

Blood thinners, aspirin, anti-inflammatories, fish oil, vitamin E and most supplements stop two weeks before surgery (the list is in the pre-op instructions), and nicotine stops four weeks before and after, because the incision heals in the mouth on its blood supply. The buccal pad shrinks little with weight loss, so the typical candidate is slim with full cheeks.

Buccal fat removal regret, and why a conservative removal matters

Buccal fat removal regret is real, and it is better understood before you book than after. The buccal fat pad is fat the face was going to lose anyway: it thins on its own from the late twenties, and the fat of the cheek above it thins with every decade after. A cheek that looks sharp at twenty-five after an aggressive removal can look drawn at forty. The patients who regret the operation almost always had too much taken, had a face that was long or thin to begin with, or had a full face for a reason the operation never touched: weight, the masseters, or the bone.

Three things protect you. The first is selection: buccal fat removal is offered only when the lower cheek is full with fat, in a face that will still have enough cushion in twenty years. The second is restraint: our facial plastic surgeon removes a portion of the pad and leaves its extensions in place, so the change is a defined cheek rather than a hollow one; more can be removed later, but what is taken cannot be put back. The third is honesty: fat transfer to the face can return volume to an over-hollowed cheek, but it is a second operation with its own uncertainty. A face is not a trend, and for some patients the right answer is not to have it.

Buccal fat removal, chin liposuction or masseter Botox?

Three different things make a lower face look full, and each has its own treatment; the wrong one, done well, still disappoints.

Buccal fat removal: the lower cheek

For the round fullness beneath the cheekbone. A portion of the buccal fat pad is removed through the mouth in about an hour, the change is permanent, and our facial plastic surgeon's fee is $6,000. It does nothing for the chin or the width of the jaw.

Chin liposuction: under the chin

For a double chin, the pad of fat under the chin that blunts the angle between the chin and the neck. Through an entry point a few millimeters long in the crease under the chin, the fat is removed with a fine cannula and feathered along the jawline, usually under local anesthesia with sedation, with a chin strap for a week or two. Our facial plastic surgeon's fee for neck liposuction is $5,000; our page on the double chin explains the pinch test that separates fat from loose skin.

Masseter Botox: the width of the jaw

For a square, wide lower face from a bulky masseter, the chewing muscle at the angle of the jaw. Botox injected into the masseter relaxes it and the muscle slims over the following weeks, for three to four months or more at a time; at the practice it is injected by our facial plastic surgeon, at $25 per unit. It does nothing to buccal fat. Nothing non-surgical removes the buccal fat pad; Kybella and fat freezing are made for the chin, not the cheek, and the practice does not offer them.

How buccal fat removal is performed

The incision and the removal

The face is assessed sitting up, at rest and in a smile, and the amount to remove is decided on its shape rather than on a fixed volume. After local anesthesia inside the cheek, the surgeon makes an incision about a centimeter long in the lining of the cheek opposite the upper molars, clear of the opening of the parotid duct, and passes through the thin buccinator muscle. Gentle pressure on the outside of the cheek pushes the pad toward the opening; the portion that protrudes is removed, the same is done on the other side, and the two are compared so they match the face. The incision is closed with a few dissolvable sutures: no drain, no dressing, no visible scar.

Surgery day

Buccal fat removal on its own takes about an hour under local anesthesia, with or without sedation, in the practice's office or its surgery center on Rodeo Drive, decided at the consultation; you go home the same day, with a driver if you were sedated. Combined with other facial surgery, it is done under general anesthesia with a board-certified anesthesiologist in the practice's QUAD A accredited surgery center.

Performed by our facial plastic surgeon

At Dr. Cat Plastic Surgery buccal fat removal is performed by our facial plastic surgeon, whose whole practice is surgery of the face and who offers buccal fat removal, neck liposuction and masseter Botox as three routes to a defined lower face. He is board-certified in facial plastic surgery, has been a colleague of Dr. Cat Begovic for more than a decade, and works to the practice's standard: restraint, and a result that still looks like you.

Combining buccal fat removal with other procedures

The lower face is shaped by more than one thing, and the consultation looks at all of them. A receding chin makes a full cheek look fuller, and a chin implant brings the chin forward so the whole lower face reads narrower. Where the cheekbone itself is flat, fat transfer to the face can add height above the hollow that buccal fat removal creates below it. What buccal fat removal never does is lift: jowls are cheek tissue that has slid below the jawline, the operation for them is a facelift, and removing buccal fat above jowls makes them more obvious; our page on sagging jowls explains the difference. Each combination is one surgery, one anesthesia and one recovery, quoted as one figure.

Buccal fat removal recovery timeline

Buccal fat removal recovery is short, and its milestones are set by the mouth: the incision sits in the lining of the cheek, so the first days are about keeping it clean. Our facial plastic surgeon gives you his own written instructions; these are the standard figures.

The day of surgeryHome within an hour or two, with a driver if you were sedated. The cheeks feel tight rather than painful; most patients manage with Tylenol. Cold compresses, the head raised, an antiseptic mouth rinse after every meal.
Days one to threeSwelling peaks at about day three and the cheeks look fuller than before surgery, which is normal. A liquid or soft diet, nothing hot, sharp or crunchy.
One weekThe swelling has begun to settle and desk work has resumed, usually within a few days. A normal diet returns as chewing allows; the dissolvable sutures come away over the first two weeks.
Two weeksMost of the swelling is gone and you are presentable. Light exercise from about a week, full exercise at about two to three weeks.
Three to six weeksThe cheeks soften and the new contour begins to show; deeper swelling can hold the lower cheek fuller than its final shape.
Two to three monthsThe final contour: a defined line from the cheekbone to the jaw, permanent, with any last deep swelling clearing over the months after.

Risks and safety

Buccal fat removal is a small operation with two important structures beside it. Here is what can happen and how the risks are reduced.

What can go wrong

Asymmetry: the two pads are rarely the same size to begin with, and the amount removed on each side has to match the face
Over-removal: a hollow, gaunt cheek that worsens as the face loses fat with age; it cannot be undone except with fat grafting
Injury to the parotid duct, which carries saliva into the mouth near the incision: a salivary leak or a collection of saliva in the cheek
Injury to the buccal branch of the facial nerve, which runs across the pad: temporary weakness of the upper lip or cheek in a small percentage of cases; permanent injury is rare
Infection, because the mouth is not sterile; a hematoma; numbness of the cheek for weeks; stiffness opening the mouth for a few days; the risks of sedation or general anesthesia

How the risks are reduced

A surgeon whose practice is facial surgery, who knows where the duct and the nerve run and works around them under direct vision
Selection first: the operation is declined for a thin, long or already hollowing face, an unstable weight, or a face that is full for another reason
A partial, conservative removal, the two sides compared before closing
The incision placed clear of the parotid duct; an antiseptic rinse after every meal and a soft diet for the first days
A board-certified anesthesiologist whenever sedation or general anesthesia is used, in the practice's QUAD A accredited surgery center, and follow-up visits through the first weeks

How much does buccal fat removal cost in Beverly Hills?

Our facial plastic surgeon's fee for buccal fat removal is $6,000. That is a surgeon's fee: the operating room and anesthesia are quoted with it at the consultation, so your written quote is one figure, and it moves with the setting (office or surgery center, local anesthesia or sedation) and with anything combined. When the fullness is under the chin instead, our facial plastic surgeon's fee for neck liposuction is $5,000; masseter Botox is $25 per unit.

The price reflects a surgeon whose practice is facial surgery and, above all, the judgment about how much to take. Please do not fall for a cheap buccal fat removal: an over-hollowed cheek costs far more to correct with fat grafting than the original operation done conservatively. Insurance does not cover buccal fat removal.

Consultation fee and financing

A consultation is $500, or $1,500 for a revision consultation, credited in full toward your surgery. The practice partners with Cherry, its primary financing partner, and also accepts CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit; see financing and payment plans.

Your consultation

It starts with a free 15-minute discovery call with our Patient Concierge, who books your consultation with our facial plastic surgeon: in person on Rodeo Drive or, for out-of-town patients, by private video consultation through OnPatient, the HIPAA-secure patient portal. He reviews your history, weight and medications, then examines the face at rest, in a smile and with the teeth clenched: where the fullness sits, whether it is fat, muscle, bone or weight, and how much cushion the cheek keeps. You leave with a written quote and a plain answer: buccal fat removal, a different procedure, or none.

Less, taken carefully

A face has to look like itself in twenty years, not only in next month's photographs, and with buccal fat removal that means taking less than a patient sometimes asks for. Buccal fat removal and our other facial procedures are performed by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon, a colleague I have worked alongside for more than a decade and who shares that restraint. His results are held to the same standard as every surgery at this practice: meticulous technique, and a natural result that is unmistakably you.

Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACSBoard-certified plastic surgeon, Beverly Hills

Book a free discovery call

A defined cheek that will still look like you

Buccal fat removal by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon, decided on your face at the consultation and kept conservative, under local anesthesia in the practice's office or in its accredited surgery center on Rodeo Drive. It starts with a free 15-minute discovery call.