The word buccal seems to have wormed its way into most people's lexicon over the past could of years —and not always for good reasons. With buccal fat removal becoming one of the 'buzziest' aesthetic treatments of recent years (the hashtag #buccalfatremoval has millions upon millions of views), it has also proved one of the most problematic.
The trend – which popularised a procedure that involved removing fat from the buccal fat pads (placed between the cheekbone and jaw bone) – was alarmingly hyped up after a number of celebrities were thought to have had it done. The results promised a more 'defined' and 'razor-sharp' facial shape, but the ongoing attention around the treatment failed to highlight the many risks it involved and the fact it quite clearly glamourised thinness and fat removal as if it were a trend. This to me (and Marie Claire's Executive Beauty Editor Shannon Lawlor) was beyond concerning.
