After buccal fat surgery, can you drive?

Yes you can drive after, the local anesthesia lasts a few hours, like going to the dentist. When a patient has a full and round face and despite weight loss the
fullness persist or if the patient is in his normal weight and the
chipmunk faces has stayed all the time, a bichectomy or buccal fat pad
removal is useful. It´s true that with aging the buccal fat pad tends to
diminish in volume do to atrophy, but if the volume is excessive a
bichectomy will not hollow the cheek overtime. Many patients are happy
with the results, a proper selection is a very important manner. Usually
the procedure takes less than 30 min and you can go homethe same day.
You'll be able to go back to work on the 3rd day post-op but 1 week off
would be more comfortable. Best regards

Treatment of ‘chubby cheeks’ cannot be achieved alone with buccal fat pad removal; a fact that I encounter time and time again when seeing patients in consultation for lower facial sculpting. My approach is to use a combined protocol that redefines aesthetic contours of the face. This includes the following:

 

Buccal Fat Pad Removal
Non-surgical Muscle-Fascia Tightening
Venus Legacy or Venus Viva
Ultherapy
Submental Liposuction or Coolsculpting
 

The combined approach is ideal. Buccal fat pad removal is a exceptional procedure that can remove excess fat from the cheek pads. Using an intraoral approach, a small incision is carried through the mucosa to remove a small fat pad within the cheek. Closure of the incisions is minimal with an absorbable suture and patients will experience some swelling post-operatively. We use SwellX tablets post treatment. Once healed, the contour of the cheek is improved and we begin Non-invasive tissue tightening to further enhance results.

 

Best,

Dr. Karamanoukian

Realself100 Surgeon

The ability for somebody to drive by him/her self after buccal fat removal depends on how the surgery is performed by the surgeon. In my practice, I do most of my patients under strict pure local anesthesia. My patients do not receive any narcotics nor any kind of sedation. Therefore, my patients can drive themselves back home similar.If patients are given any narcotics, sedatives ( like benzodiazepines) or other medications different to pure local anesthetic or tylenol, they are not allowed to drive by themselves and somebody (a family or friend) must drive them back home for safety.Therefore, asl yours surgeon if it is safe to drive by yourself back home after buccal fat removal.