How to Get Rid of Face Fat: 6 Different Ways

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• If you’re looking to get rid of facial fat, overall weight loss can eliminate some of the fullness in your cheeks.
• You can use injectable fillers in your cheekbones or your chin to give the look of a slimmer face.
• Other options include neck liposuction or Botox injections into your masseter muscle.

Buccal fat removal — a procedure in which a doctor removes the fat pads in your cheeks — is a trend that’s gaining steam among celebrities and influencers. But going under the knife isn’t the only way to achieve a slimmer face.

Lifestyle changes to reduce your overall weight, non-surgical cosmetic procedures, and surgery are options to change your facial features and structure.

Here are six ways to get the look of a slimmer face.

1. General weight loss

If you’re overweight, losing weight through lifestyle changes like exercise and a healthy diet can help you shed some of the fat on your face.

“Exercise and dieting help tremendously in slimming the face and neck,” says Dr. Alexander Zuriarrain, a four-time board-certified plastic surgeon at Zuri Plastic Surgery.

But you can’t target your weight loss, so it only occurs on your face. Weight loss leads to an overall decrease in fat levels throughout the body, which can include the face and neck, Zuriarrain says.

2. Injectable filler

While it may sound counterintuitive to add fillers to your face to make it look slimmer, it’s all about balancing facial features and structure.

You can’t target facial fat with a simple solution like liposuction, but you can use fillers to create the illusion of a slimmer face, says Dr. Craig Lehrman, a plastic surgeon and director of aesthetic surgery in the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center.

For example, filler can help transform the appearance of your cheekbones, change the look of the rest of your face, and make your face appear slimmer and more youthful, says Lehrman.

Another area where fillers can be helpful is the lower face. By injecting filler into the chin, you can achieve an elongated look, which can also help your face look slimmer overall, says Dr. Christopher Lee, a board-certified plastic surgeon at Clareo Aesthetics.

3. Face lift

“A facelift is the crème de la crème and the gold standard for the biggest change in facial features and structure,” says Lee. This procedure can not only make your face look slimmer but also more youthful.

Lee says that during a facelift, the surgeon lifts the fat pads in your cheeks to reduce wrinkles around the mouth and reduce the appearance of a full lower face. Eventually the face will look more contoured.

“It’s the most invasive option, but it also provides the most effective and long-lasting results,” says Zuriarrain.

Facelifts are often performed in conjunction with neck lifts.

4. Neck liposuction and neck lift

Excess fat in the neck can contribute to a thicker face.

“Liposuction can be used to hollow out excess fat, and a neck lift can be used to reduce excess skin or heaviness caused by the muscles in your neck,” says Lehrman.

Liposuction is a procedure in which fat cells are removed from the desired area. Since there may be excess loose skin after lipo, this is tightened by the neck lift.

By treating oily and sagging skin in the neck area, you can make the face appear slimmer.

5. Masseter Botox

Sometimes the appearance of a wider or fuller face is due to muscle and not fat. If the lower part of your face, especially your jaw, is wide, it could be because your masseter (or jaw) muscle is enlarged. Some possible causes of this are teeth grinding or clenching, or excessive chewing of gum. In this case, Masseter Botox can help.

By injecting the masseter muscle, you can reduce the size of that muscle over time and reduce the appearance of a wide jaw, Lee says.

6. Buccal fat removal

Finally, you can opt for buccal fat removal if you want a dramatic change.

Cheek fat refers to the fat below your cheekbones and above your jawbone. If you want to address puffiness in the cheeks, buccal fat reductions target that area directly, Lee says.

The plastic surgeon makes incisions in your mouth to remove the buccal fat pads. Once those fat pads are gone, the results are permanent and that fat won’t come back.

Insider snack

While you can’t necessarily target all facial fat directly with exercise or liposuction, there are steps you can take to make your face look slimmer. Overall weight loss can help reduce facial fat, and both non-surgical and surgical cosmetic procedures can help create the illusion of a slimmer face.

If you are interested in cosmetic procedures, consult a respected board-certified plastic surgeon for the safest and best-looking results.