After a Facelift, Can Your Face Get Thinner? Does Any of the Fat on Cheeks Get Absorbed?

Whether or not any fat is lost during a face lift depends to some extent on the technique used.  We typically add fat to face (fat grafting) at the same time as the face lift

There is a miniscule amount of fat that is absorbed along the area of the surgical facelift where the incisions and elevation of the SMAS is performed. Only the areas that are undermined will get a very slight resorption of fat.  

In general , it may appear that your face is thinner due to the repositioning of the fat. However, in most instances, plastic surgeons will try to preserve volume.

During a facelift, the skin and soft tissues are elevated and the underlying tissue is repositioned to achieve a more youthful position.  With many facelifts, liposuction of the neck and jowls is performed and often the muscles are tightened.  In some patients, extra fat can be transferred to the midface to enhance the results from surgery.  However, every patient is different and the procedure need to be customized to each individual person.  

Good luck.

A facelift repositions the fat within th face to a more youthful position. Next the excess skin is removed.  After a facelift, you should not lose the fat that was repositioned, but keep in mind that the aging process will continue. It is possible that some of the fat may decrease because of the natural aging process. This may happen very slowly over years and years.

A Facelift will reposition the tissues of your face back to where they started out when you were younger. This process does not cause your fat to go away, however, some surgeons do some fat contouring while they are doing the Facelift procedure. In general we do not remove fat from the cheeks.

The reason that the face may appear thinner is the vertical direction of pull on the underlying muscle during traditional facelift surgery.   This results in a more angular oval facial shape from a previous boxy flat appearance.   The cheek fat is very unlikely to atrophy and should actually appear more pronounced depending on the vector of pull during your facelift.   All the best on a safe recovery.

 

Paul S. Gill, M.D.

Glll Plastic Surgery

Houston Double Board Certified Plastic Surgeon

In most cases no but without a photo very hard to advise. Seek in person evaluations from boarded plastic surgeons in your area. From MIAMI Dr. Darryl J. Blinski

When performing a facelift usually the goal is to preserve facial fat as much as possible. I suppose that some of the fat that was cut through to elevate the skin may have atrophied a bit.

The answer is yes and no.  yes, the face oftens appears thinner after a face lift because the excess skin and muscle tightening, of the face when combined with shaping of the cheeks, makes the face appear thinner but in a shapely and more aesthetic manner.

No, in the sense that the Face Lift somehow causes fatty tissues, of the cheeks, to dissolve.  If you are experiencing thinner, flat cheeks after a face lift...it's most likely due to how the face lift was performed or because the fat was removed in aesthetically incorrect sections of the cheeks.