Buccal fat removal regret - now my face looks really hollowed

It has taken me a long time to post a review on my surgery, because I wanted to wait a couple of months to see my actual results. I got buccal fat removal August 2020 with Dr. John Mesa. After my surgery I saw no results, I still looked fairly the same. Up until late last year around December 2021 and now… I see the results from the surgery. I look hollowed and gaunt. My cheeks are no longer plump they are flat. My face looks older and not in a good way. My cheeks no longer have support so they are starting to sagg. My laugh lines are awfully pronounced. This surgery PRE-AGED my face. Dr. Mesa likes to advertise this surgery and claims that it gives you a more “contoured” and “chiseled” look, when all he does is hollow you out. If you ask other doctors, they do not recommended this surgery because it can cause premature aging and more complications as you get older. He told me I was good candidate just from taking THREE pictures through a webcam consultation. He said I was a good candidate for this surgery because I had chubby cheeks and as long as I got voluma injected into my cheekbones, it would give me the look I wanted. But when I got voluma injected into my cheekbones, it didn’t do anything for me. I still looked the same. It has taken a year and 6 months to see the actual results of the buccal fat removal. I remember before the surgery I had explained to him I didn’t want him to take out too much and that I didn’t want to look sunken in. He convinced me to remove 70%. That’s a lot!! but I was naive and since he is the doctor I trusted him. So we agreed he would leave 30%. Before the surgery I asked Christina (his head nurse) if it will make me look hollowed, if it would age me, and if it would make me look gaunt. Her answer was no to all these questions. She said “it’s just gonna look like you have contour on, like when you do your makeup.” During the surgery while he was already removing the buccal fat, he told me he was going to take out a little more than 70%?? To give me the “chiseled??” look I wanted. During surgery!! At this point I couldn’t do anything he was already in my mouth!! This is a PERMANENT SURGERY! He told me he left 20% of buccal fat. Which is hard to believe because I genuinely think he took all of it out. After the surgery, they asked me to come back in 3 months later to take after pictures. I went back to his office to take the after pictures, and then I never heard from them again. They never followed up with me after that. Until I reached out to them this year for my medical records (which took like a month to get in the mail after requesting for them to send it so many times). If anyone is considering doing this surgery, I would caution against it. I don’t think this surgery gives you that “chiseled” look or slimming effect that you’re looking for. This is something permanent and it will change your face drastically and not in a good way. Your buccal fat is what keeps you looking YOUNG!! Please do your research and pay attention to all the bad reviews!! If you look on his Instagram, he hardly has any pictures of his patients and more pictures of himself. This surgery has taken a toll on my mental health. I was not depressed or in an “unstable state” when I got this surgery. As anyone who wants to get cosmetic procedures done, I just wanted to enhance my features for myself. I wish someone would have stopped me from doing this surgery. I was only 23 at the time, and now I am going to look 40 at 30 years old!

I took my pictures down because I don’t feel comfortable having them up and risking anyone I know seeing them. If anyone genuinely wants to get this surgery done and wants to see my results please message me so I can show you my results and to STOP you from getting this surgery. NOT WORTH IT!!

I wanted to add more pictures that show different angles of the procedure. If you are considering doing this surgery please don’t. I look so unhealthy and sick and my cheeks fold when I look down. My cheeks are sinking in way too much. I regret it so much