The cheeks are one of the most prominent areas of the face. Many attractive people have nice cheeks that match their faces. Conversely, people without full cheeks might look gaunt and sickly if their cheeks don’t match the rest of their appearance.
You can get fuller cheeks via cheek fillers for a temporary solution. You can also opt for a cheek implant or fat transfer if you want permanent results. A proper diet should also be part of your daily routine.
Not everyone wants a full set of cheeks. Sometimes it can make a person look fat or unattractive. Full cheeks sometimes give off the impression of a chubby chipmunk. Full cheeks prevent you from achieving cheek hollows and a noticeable ogee curve:
However, that does not represent every case.
A significant number of people want fuller cheeks to look more youthful. As the face ages, so does the skin and the soft tissue. It is normal to experience some drooping in middle age. Thus, the use of procedures that give fuller cheeks is sometimes necessary.
The procedures in this article will have varying degrees of intensity and duration. Choosing the right one for you depends on what you want to get out of the procedure. You may want a permanent solution so that you won’t have to think about it again, or you could want a procedure that will give you a temporary but easily fixable solution.
Why Would You Want Fuller Cheeks?
Even though our initial perception of full cheeks relates to weight gain or fatness, there are plenty of reasons why someone may want a fuller set of cheeks. Full cheeks give off the impression of youth and can help combat the signs of aging. Take a look at how these examples benefitted from a fuller set of cheeks.
A Long Face
This lady here in the photo got a malar(cheekbone) fat transfer and chin augmentation to help with her face’s long appearance (Ellenbogen et al., 2005). Notice how full cheeks in the post-op photo made her look significantly better. It helped widen her cheek area so that she no longer has a long face. While the chin augmentation helped a lot, you can clearly see the malar fat transfer’s effect in making her face look more lively and attractive.
A Gaunt Face
Another one of the applications of fuller cheeks is to help with a gaunt face. Though hollow cheekbones look attractive in many situations, it depends on what you want. There are times when hollow cheeks don’t work. Instead of elevating the appearance, the person just looks tired. Sometimes more angles mean that a face looks like it needs a good night’s rest. Imagine looking tired all the time, even if you feel great! As you can probably imagine, it’s not fun. Thus, cheek filler to get fuller cheeks can help significantly with improving facial appearance.
Midface Retrusion
Some people have midfaces or maxillas that are severely recessed. This recession creates an underbite, but it also creates a lot of problems in terms of aesthetics. Take, for example, this photo of a woman who had midface retrusion. She made use of fat transfer to get fuller cheeks, and it significantly improved her appearance. She no longer looks like her chin juts out too much. Instead of a flat profile from pre-op, she now has a normal set of cheeks.
How To Get Fuller Cheeks
Increase Caloric Intake
First off, you should try eating more, especially if you have an underweight BMI. Some people naturally cannot gain weight on their faces, or if they gain, if they do, it’s the last place to gain fat. Don’t blow up to an unhealthy weight, but realize that you might be one of those who look better at a higher body fat percentage.
Cheek Fillers
Fillers are a quick and easy way to get the appearance that you want. However, they do come with some pros and cons. Pros” cheek fillers are easy, quick, and are relatively safe. There are very few complications associated with dermal fillers. That’s because most fillers contain substances that naturally occur in the body, such as hyaluronic acid. But, that is a little bit of a double-edged sword, which brings us to the cons.
Cheek fillers make use of substances that are already in the body, so those substances degrade overtime. In short, dermal fillers are not permanent. Plus, they can get pretty expensive once you keep doing them over and over again. But with that, you’re not tied to the look that the fillers give you for a very long period (although they can still last for some time). Another con is that dermal fillers have the risk of migrating to the other areas of the face.
Cheek Implants
Cheek implants achieve the same result of getting a fuller face. But cheek implants are more permanent and require a surgically invasive procedure. The surgeon embeds a silicone implant into the patient’s cheek, usually by making an incision behind the eyelid. The implant is always tailor-suited specifically to the individual needs of the patient. Thus, they’ll get the fuller cheeks they want in the specific amount they need. Cheek implants have been around for a long time, around nearly 60 years or so. The procedure has already undergone many improvements and changes. Surgeons have gotten good at it.
Since it is an invasive procedure, you should do extensive research first. Ensure that you have a reputable cosmetic surgeon in your area who can do the job well and show you many before/after photos. Just like with any surgery, this one also has risks. You can mitigate these risks by knowing what you are getting into and preparing for it as much as you can. Do not settle for a bad cheek augmentation job just because you cannot afford the best option. Ensure that you get only the best quality services because it’s for life if a mistake is made.
Fat Transfers/Fat Grafting
Fat can be used as a filler. Fat transfers are another method of cheek augmentation. In this procedure, the surgeon takes the fat from another part of the body and then injects it into the cheeks. This is a less invasive method of cheek augmentation compared to cheek implants. Since the surgeon will not cut you open in a literal sense, there are fewer risks involved.
The photos above regarding the uses of fuller cheeks were from fat transfers. A fat transfer minimizes the risk of the body rejecting the natural filler.
Facial Exercises
The issue of facial exercises is always up for debate. Most of the evidence points to it not working. However, one study provides information that facial exercises work but over a period of many weeks. In the study by Alam et al. (2018), the researcher selected middle-aged women to perform facial exercises over 20 weeks. The results were positive, and most had a fuller set of cheeks by the end of the period. However, one study is not enough to conclude the effectiveness of facial exercises. If you want to try it out, then you can. If you are on the fence about it because of the flimsy evidence, then you are better off trying the other options on this list.
