Can you lose fat in the Buccal Fat pad by losing weight?

Question

It seemed like a fat pad either has dropped to my jowl, or my jowl fat pad is growing (on one side...) I can manually "slide" the pad upward and pinch it and feel it. However, I wonder, when I lose weight I seems as though the fat pad slims down, but is it possible? Is there a difference between fat in the pad at face fat? Thanks

John Mesa, MD · Answer

One of the common complains of my buccal fat removal patients is that no mater how much exercise or strict diet they do, the fullness of the lower anterior cheeks seems to never go away.Buccal fat is a pocket of fat that usually is resistant to weight loss in most of the patients. In some patient with very very low body fat content ( like bodybuilders which % body fat is around 9% for men and %12 for women) could reduce the fullest of the cheek, but just only while heavily training for competition. Therefore, surgical removal is generally the option that helps patients to address permanently the fullness of the lower cheeks ( like most models do).Patients interested in determining if buccal fat  removal may help to achieve a chiseled face should make a consultation with a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon specialized in plastic surgery procedures of the face.

Basil Pakeman, MD · Answer

The Buccal Fat Pad is a distinct  Fat pad of face, and it is a separate fat pad from the jowl fat pad in the lower face and the malar fat pad in the mid-face below the eyes. Dieting is not best way to decrease buccal fat volume, but dieting does help with reducing generalize facial fat volume. The buccal fat is very resistant to weight loss. We do see buccal fat pad reduction in extreme case of starvation.

Karan Chopra, MD · Answer

Hi Don, Thanks for the question!
Yes, fat pads of the face  grow and shrink with weight loss. Once the fat pad is removed it does not return or fluctuate with weight changes. The jowl fat pads tend to be more prominent in older patients and droop with age. Buccal fat pads tend to be large since childhood and do not usually sag or droop with age. 
Both of them can be addressed through relatively low recovery procedures! 
Hope this helps,
Dr. Karan Chopra

Chase Lay, MD · Answer

Buccal fat tends to respond differently to weight loss and dietary changes then fat and the rest of the face and body. In particular this fat pad maybe one of the last areas for the volume of the fat to decrease in weight loss. That being said many people due noticed a reduction in jowls an facial fullness in that area with weight loss but I think as a rule other areas of the face lose volume first.Chase Lay, MD

Can you lose fat in the Buccal Fat pad by losing weight?

Answers (4)