BURNSVILLE, Minn. — Corinne Carrasco said she has been self-conscious of her "round" cheeks her entire life. The 31-year-old makes YouTube videos for her 18,000 subscribers from her home in Plymouth. She said it's been her biggest insecurity.
"I always struggled with my chubby cheeks," Carrasco said. "No matter how much weight I lose, I always had this fat in my cheeks."
So last year the plastic surgeon Carrasco sees for her routine Botox and jawline filler, Dr. Karan Chopra, recommended she look into buccal fat pad surgery. The procedure removes a portion of cheek fat through an incision in the mouth.
Carrasco researched the procedure and felt it would help her achieve a more contoured look. The low recovery time and ease of the surgery (performed in under an hour) also interested her, so in August she scheduled the appointment in Burnsville for January of this year.
A month before her surgery, she saw the surgery begin to trend on social media. TikTokers began sharing their experiences with the procedure, including celebrities like Chrissy Teigen.
Data from Google Trends shows searches for "buccal fat" and "buccal fat removal" spiked the week of Dec. 11 and though the search is tapering off, it still remains at more-than-double the search interest it maintained for most of 2022.
"It just felt like I was the first one... ahead of the game," Carrasco said.
Dr. Chopra, who had already been performing the surgery regularly, said his office received an influx of calls requesting the procedure around the same time.
"Patients are requesting it more commonly because they’re more aware of it with social media influencers, TikTokers, and celebrities who are coming out and talking about the procedure that they’ve had," Dr. Chopra said. "When they show me pictures of what they want to look like, they’ll often show me a reel, or a TikTok, or an Instagram post or something like that."
But just as the demand for the procedure surged, so did the controversy surrounding it. Even though the surgery only recently started to trend, Dr. Chopra said Carrasco's years-long desire to have slimmer cheeks made her a good candidate.
"Most commonly, patients are coming in seeking a buccal fat removal because they either think they have "chipmunk cheeks" or when they smile, they have excess fullness in the lower face," Dr. Chopra said. "The third, is usually a patient who doesn’t have chubby cheeks, but just want their cheekbones to be accentuated."
However, many plastic surgeons say that the last point is the very reason they're against performing the procedure.
Dr. Matthew Camp, CEO of Echelon Surgical Specialists in Edina and Minnetonka, said he has a "philosophical problem" with the surgery. Even though he, too, has received a surge in requests for the surgery, he won't perform it.
"That fat pad is there for a reason: it adds volume to the face," Dr. Camp said. "Part of the appearance of a youthful, healthy face, is roundness of the cheek. And if you chisel the fat out, you get this sort of gaunt, chiseled appearance that looks somewhat haggard."
Dr. Camp, who also serves as an assistant professor of plastic surgery at Mayo Clinic, said in his 11 years of practice, he's spent a lot of his time trying to restore fat to the face, not take it away.
"It’s a look that most people don’t benefit from in the long-run, because having a round cheek makes you look youthful, and you need that as you get older," he said. "As you get older, that fat atrophies on its own. And that’s what makes old people look old."
Physicians, divided over the surgery, have also taken to Tiktok. Dr. Ellen Gendler, an NYC-based cosmetic dermatologist, posted a video to TikTok calling the surgery "the dumbest trend" she's seen in a long time.
While plastic surgeon Dr. Mike Nayak, of St. Louis, said in his own TikTok if he "judiciously" removes a portion of buccal fat, it will improve facial balance and maintain a desired long-term effect.
Dr. Chopra said he's aware of the concerns but believes the procedure is misunderstood by most.
"The key with a successful buccal fat pad procedure is not to remove it entirely, but rather to sculpt it and look for the aesthetic endpoints we have in mind with careful, preoperative planning," Dr. Chopra said. "The reason is because if you overdo it, it’s very difficult to replace this specialized fat."
Carrasco won't see her full results until around six weeks or more, according to Dr. Chopra, but she's excited to "be more confident overall." She already posted a vlog about her experience and in the video, encouraged her viewers (especially younger ones) to carefully research any body modifications before proceeding.
"Trends change, and the procedure that you’re gonna get done does not, so you really gotta think about what you want for yourself, for your happiness, and not what’s trending," she said.
Watch more KARE11 Sunrise:
Watch the latest coverage from KARE11 Sunrise in our YouTube playlist: