Buccal fat pad excision for cheek refinement: a systematic review

• Bassel Traboulsi-Garet ^[1] ; Octavi Camps-Font ^[1] ; Marwan Traboulsi-Garet ^[1] ; Cosme Gay-Escoda ^[2]
  1. [1] Universitat de Barcelona

     Universitat de Barcelona

     Barcelona, España

     
  2. [2] MD, DDS, MSc, PhD, EBOS, OMFS. Chairman and Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Barcelona, Spain.; Director of the Master’s Degree Programme in Oral Surgery and Implantology, EFHRE International University/FUCSO, Belize; Coordinator/Researcher of the IDIBELL Institute.; Head of Oral Surgery, Implantology and Maxillofacial Surgery Department of the Teknon Medical Centre, Spain
• Localización: Medicina oral, patología oral y cirugía bucal. Ed. inglesa, ISSN-e 1698-6946, Vol. 26, Nº. 4, 2021
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • Buccal Fat Pad (BFP) excision has become an aesthetic surgical procedure. Although this procedure is quite common, it is important to bear in mind that the scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of this treatment is scarce and of low quality. The purpose of this systematic review was to analyse all relevant data to assess the efficacy and safety of BFP excision for improving midface aesthetics.

    A thorough search of MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus and Cochrane Library databases was conducted. The PICO approach was used where healthy patients seeking cheek slimming and facial silhouette refining undergo BFP excision and were compared before and after surgery in terms of BFP volume reduction, adverse effects and patient satisfaction.

    Of the 1,413 references identified, 4 were included in the qualitative synthesis. Only one study reported BFP volume reduction, which was 3.10 mL (95%CI: 2.38 to 3.80; P < 0.001), and the mean volume of the excised tissue was 2.74 ± 0.69 mL (range, 1.8-4.9 mL). 84.6% of the patients stated that their facial contour was much better and the remaining 15.4% noticed that the appearance of their cheeks following BFP excision was better. Seven complications were reported in the 134 cheek refinement procedures.

    BFP removal has an initially favorable outcome for facial aesthetics and a low postoperative complication rate, however, there are many procedures being performed with poor quality methodology and there is also a lack of published data on its long-term follow-up results.