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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1002 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 23, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I'm thinking of biting the bullet on plastic surgery. I've always had chubby cheeks, without that much definition even when I was 10 kilos lighter, and buccal fat removal was something I'd been eyeing for years. I just didn't really have the money or the impetus to go for it back then.

I had an appointment with a reputable plastic surgeon today, and started off with a debate on whether he could exclude body dysmorphia in my case lol. I explained that in a psychiatric context, didn't any degree of dissatisfaction with one's physical appearance that involved attempts to modify it count? Why doesn't going to the gym or dieting to lose weight count? Besides, you'd need to have significant impairment in psychosocial functioning to warrant it. The DSM-5 includes, under BDD:*

Preoccupation with one or more perceived defects or flaws in physical appearance that are not observable or appear slight to others

While the roundness of one's face is a subjective thing, it's certainly not non-observable.

At any rate, he pretty successfully upsold me, explaining that I had hypertrophic masseters, which would make mere buccal fat removal not have very significant effects on the overall contour of the face. He also explained that instead of discarding buccal fat, as is the norm, he finds benefit from it being re-injected below the eyes and on the chin. To help tone down the masseters further, he suggested botox. I'm not particularly keen on semi-annual injections into my face, but I think it's worth a shot.

Anyone undergo anything similar?

*If it's unclear, he was taking the piss. I don't have body dysmorphia, it's a high bar to cross.

When I search for images of "buccal fat removal men before and after" I get pictures that don't differ much at all, similar to "face during a bulk vs face during a cut".

On the one hand, this means you are unlikely to end up looking like Skeletor or Erin Moriarty. On the other hand, is it worth the expense?

It's not that expensive, perks of opting for this while visiting India. I don't have an exact quote, but even accounting for the expense of the best hospital around (no ex employee discount, sadly), I doubt it will cross 4k USD. Optimistically, less than 1k USD. I'll know a better figure once I go to the billing desk, I was too lazy to queue today. Just the buccal fat removal would be around 4k USD in the States.

There are different degrees of fat removal. My surgeon suggested 2ml both sides, which is a conservative approach. So you can go from anywhere from subtle to gaunt.

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