How to Lose Face Fat and Get Rid of Chubby Cheeks

In this guide15 sections

1. Key Points
2. How to Lose Face Fat: What Works for Each Cause
3. What Causes a Fat Face? The Four Causes of Chubby Cheeks
4. Why Is My Face Fat But Not My Body?
5. Is It Buccal Fat, Face Fat or Muscle? How to Tell
6. Is It Face Fat or Fluid Retention?
7. How to Lose Weight in Your Face
8. Do Face Exercises Reduce Face Fat?
9. Non-Surgical Face Slimming Treatments: What Works
10. Face Fat Removal Surgery: Buccal Fat Removal and Facial Liposuction
11. Will Removing Face Fat Make You Look Older?
12. How to Choose the Right Face Slimming Treatment
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Why Choose Centre for Surgery for Face Slimming?
15. References

“Chubby cheeks”, also described as a chubby face, a fat face, big cheeks, fat cheeks or a doughy face, is fullness in the lower cheek and submalar area that gives the face a rounded appearance. It is one of the most common reasons people search for how to lose face fat, and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on what is causing the fullness in your face.

Some people have prominent buccal fat pads, a largely inherited feature that changes little with weight. Others carry general facial fat that comes and goes with their body weight, which is why rapid weight loss on weight-loss injections can thin the face so quickly. Others have a large masseter muscle, the chewing muscle at the angle of the jaw, and many people have a mixture. Fullness below the jawline is a separate problem again, covered in our guide to how to get rid of a double chin.

This guide explains how to lose face fat for each cause: why your face can be fat when your body is not, what works and what does not (including face exercises), and when treatment such as jaw slimming injections or buccal fat removal makes sense. It also helps you pin down what you actually want. A slimmer cheek is buccal fat removal and a dimple is dimpleplasty, and our guide to buccal fat removal vs dimpleplasty explains why the two are so often confused. Finally, it covers the question that matters most with any permanent change: how your face will look as it ages.

How to Lose Face Fat: What Works for Each Cause

The right way to slim your face depends on which of the four causes is behind the fullness, and most faces have more than one.

What Causes a Fat Face? The Four Causes of Chubby Cheeks

The lower cheek gets its volume from several separate layers, and any of them can make a face look round.

1. The Buccal Fat Pad

The buccal fat pad is a separate, encapsulated pocket of fat that sits deep in the cheek, between the masseter muscle and the deeper muscles of the face^[1]. It is one of the main fat pads responsible for lower cheek volume. Dissection studies show it is divided into lobes and held in place by its own ligaments, with an extension that reaches forward into the cheek^[2]. Its size is largely inherited, and some people have naturally large buccal fat pads from childhood. This is the structure addressed by buccal fat removal surgery.

2. Fat Under the Skin

The fat just beneath the skin of the face is not one continuous sheet. It is divided into separate compartments around the nasolabial fold, the cheeks, the forehead and the jowls^[3]. This is the fat that tracks your body weight. How fat a face looks is closely linked to body mass index^[4], and in one study, ratings of how fat a woman’s face looked were better predicted by her body weight than by her body shape^[5]. Gaining weight adds to it and losing weight reduces it, just like the fat under the skin elsewhere, which our guide to visceral vs subcutaneous fat explains.

3. A Large Masseter Muscle

The masseter is the main chewing muscle, running from the cheekbone to the angle of the jaw. In people who grind or clench their teeth, and in some people naturally, it is enlarged. This produces a square-jawed look and lower-face fullness that is muscle, not fat. It is treated with jaw slimming injections; see our guide to non-surgical jaw reduction.

4. Fluid Retention

Salt, alcohol, poor sleep, hormonal changes and some medications cause temporary puffiness that mimics chubby cheeks. It is not fat, and it reverses with lifestyle changes.

Bone Structure and Age

Wide cheekbones and the shape of the upper jaw set the framework of the face, and some facial skeletons simply produce a rounder face whatever the soft tissue does. Bone structure cannot be changed without jaw surgery, which is reserved for functional problems; our guide to high vs low cheekbones covers how definition can be added instead.

In mid-life, a different change takes over. The fat compartments descend, and if the ligaments holding the buccal fat pad loosen, its forward extension can drop towards the jaw^[2]. The cheek can then look hollow in some areas and full in others, with fullness gathering at the jaw as saggy cheeks and jowls. That is a different problem from young-adult chubby cheeks, and it needs different treatment.

Why Is My Face Fat But Not My Body?

This is one of the most common questions we get, and the answer is usually buccal fat. The buccal pad is a discrete, encapsulated structure sitting deep between the facial muscles^[1]. It is not the same tissue as the fat under the skin that thickens when you gain weight. Its size is largely inherited, and in our experience it shrinks far less than other fat when you lose weight.

That is why someone can be genuinely slim, train hard and still have a round lower face. It is also why dieting further is the wrong answer for this group: you will lose fat from everywhere that responds, and the one structure causing the fullness will stay much as it is. If anything, losing more body fat makes the contrast more obvious. Being slim with fat in particular places is common elsewhere in the body too, as our guide to being skinny fat explains.

The opposite problem, wanting fuller cheeks rather than slimmer ones, is real too, and the answer is restoring volume rather than gaining weight: cheek fillers or facial fat transfer.

Is It Buccal Fat, Face Fat or Muscle? How to Tell

These self-assessment markers are a guide; a consultation gives a definite answer.

Likely buccal fat pad prominence if:

• The fullness is in a specific, defined area below the cheekbone
• It has been there since adolescence or earlier
• It has not changed despite weight going up and down
• Other parts of your body do not carry much fat
• Sucking your cheeks in reveals a defined hollow that you would like to be permanent
• Family members have a similar face shape

Likely fat under the skin if:

• The fullness changes with your overall weight
• It is spread across the face rather than in one spot
• Other parts of your body also carry weight
• Recent weight gain has changed your face
• Your face slims when you lose weight

Likely masseter muscle if:

• The fullness is at the angle of the jaw rather than the mid-cheek
• It is firm to touch, like muscle, rather than soft, like fat
• Your jaw looks wide and square from the front
• You grind or clench your teeth, or have jaw joint problems
• You can feel the muscle bulge when you clench
• It is more common in people of East Asian heritage, though it occurs in all populations

Likely bone structure if:

• The bony framework of your face is naturally wide
• The width comes from the cheekbones themselves
• Reducing soft tissue would still leave a wide-looking face
• Other family members have similar bone structure

Several causes commonly work together. Many people have naturally large buccal fat pads, some general facial fat and a mildly enlarged masseter all at once. If one side looks fuller than the other, that is often the masseter on your preferred chewing side, which our guide to facial asymmetry covers.

Is It Face Fat or Fluid Retention?

Before considering any treatment, establish whether what you are seeing is fat or fluid. They look similar in the mirror and behave completely differently.

Fluid retention is worse first thing in the morning and settles over a few hours. It fluctuates with salt, alcohol the night before, sleep position, your hormonal cycle, crying and flying. It is symmetrical and soft, and it changes from week to week. Sleep matters more than most people realise: in a Swedish study, photographs of people taken after a night without sleep were rated as having more swollen eyes, darker circles and droopier mouth corners than photographs of the same people after normal sleep^[6]. Puffiness concentrated under the eyes is a separate issue, covered in our guide to how to get rid of eye bags.

Fat does none of that. It looks the same at 8am as at 8pm, and the same this Tuesday as last Tuesday.

The practical test is simple. Photograph yourself straight on, in the same light, first thing in the morning and again in the evening, on several days across a few weeks. If the fullness moves, you are chasing fluid, and no surgeon should be operating on it. A meaningful number of people who book consultations for chubby cheeks turn out to be in this group, and the honest advice is to fix sleep, salt and alcohol first and reassess.

How to Lose Weight in Your Face

For the part of a fuller face that is fat under the skin, the only way to lose it without treatment is to lose fat overall. Your face loses fat in proportion to the rest of your body, though not always at the same pace.

Does Face Fat Go Away When You Lose Weight?

The fat under the skin does. It tracks body weight^[4][5], so steady weight loss slims the face as well as the body, and many people notice it in photographs before they notice it anywhere else. Buccal fat responds much less, so a round lower face can persist even after significant weight loss.

Fast, large weight loss can also overshoot. Losing a lot of weight quickly can leave the face looking hollow and older rather than slimmer, a pattern now often linked to weight-loss injections and explained in our guide to facial volume loss after weight-loss injections.

How Long Does It Take to Lose Face Fat?

As long as it takes to lose the equivalent fat from your body: weeks to months, not days. There is no separate timetable for the face. What changes within days is fluid, which is why a week of less salt, less alcohol and better sleep can make a face look noticeably slimmer without any fat being lost.

Lifestyle Changes That Help

• Overall weight management. A modest, sustained calorie deficit with regular exercise reduces facial fat along with fat everywhere else.
• Limit alcohol. Alcohol promotes fluid retention and makes the face look fuller, and cutting back can change how your face looks within days.
• Reduce salt. A high salt intake causes fluid retention, and moderating it reduces facial puffiness.
• Sleep properly. Seven to nine hours a night reduces morning puffiness around the eyes and cheeks^[6].
• Watch refined carbohydrates and sugar. These make it easier to eat more than you need, which works against overall fat loss.

What Does Not Work

• Spot reduction: you cannot burn fat from one part of the face by exercising it (see below).
• Creams that claim to “melt” face fat: no cream reaches or dissolves the fat beneath the skin.
• Massage, rollers and gua sha: these can move fluid temporarily, but they do not remove fat.
• “Detox” plans: genuine facial fat does not respond to detox protocols.

If your fullness is mainly buccal fat or masseter muscle, lifestyle changes will not help much. Those need targeted treatment.

Do Face Exercises Reduce Face Fat?

No. Exercise burns fat from across the whole body, not from the muscles doing the work. In a 2011 randomised trial in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research ↗, six weeks of daily abdominal exercises strengthened the stomach muscles but made no difference to belly fat^[7]. The face works the same way: exercising the cheeks does not burn the fat that sits over them.

What Face Yoga Actually Does

Face yoga builds the small muscles of the face, and that has the opposite effect to the one most people with chubby cheeks want. In a 2018 study of facial exercise in JAMA Dermatology ↗, 16 women aged 40 to 65 did a 30-minute facial exercise routine daily, then on alternate days, for 20 weeks. Dermatologists who did not know which photos were which rated their upper and lower cheeks as fuller at the end, and the authors put this down to the muscles enlarging^[8]. That can help a face that has hollowed with age, but it will not slim a round one.

Does Mewing Slim Your Face?

Mewing, holding the tongue flat against the roof of the mouth, is popular online as a way to sharpen the jawline. There is no good evidence that it reduces face fat or reshapes the adult jaw. Much of the difference in before-and-after photos comes from posture, head angle and lighting. If the real concern is the jawline, our guides to a weak jawline and looksmaxxing explain what genuinely changes it.

Does Chewing Gum Make Your Face Slimmer?

No. Chewing works the masseter, the muscle that widens the angle of the jaw when it enlarges. If anything, constant chewing pushes in the wrong direction for someone whose fullness is partly muscle.

Non-Surgical Face Slimming Treatments: What Works

For people who want to try non-surgical options before considering surgery:

Jaw Slimming Injections for the Masseter

Small doses of botulinum toxin placed in the masseter muscle reduce its size over six to eight weeks. The effect lasts around four to six months at first, often longer with repeat treatment as the muscle adapts. It is the single most effective non-surgical treatment for a face that is wide because of muscle rather than fat. A systematic review of 28 studies covering 748 patients found the muscle was roughly 12% to 31% thinner three months after treatment, although injection techniques varied too much to say which works best^[9]. See our non-surgical jaw reduction guide.

Fat-Dissolving Injections

Deoxycholic acid injections destroy fat cells where they are injected. In two large placebo-controlled trials for fat under the chin, around two-thirds of treated patients improved by at least one grade, compared with about one in five on placebo. Temporary weakness of the nerve that moves the lower lip occurred in 4.3% of treated patients in one trial and usually resolved^[10][11]. They have not been tested in the same way for the cheeks, where the buccal fat sits deep among facial nerves and the salivary duct. We do not offer them for buccal fat, because surgical removal is more precise and more predictable.

Fat Freezing (Cryolipolysis) and HIFU

Both come up often in consultations about facial slimming, so they are worth addressing directly. Fat freezing destroys fat cells by cooling them, and its facial applicator is designed for the area under the chin, not the cheek. It does not reach the buccal pad, which sits deep between the facial muscles, well beyond the depth these devices treat. High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) tightens skin by delivering energy at set depths. It lifts and firms, which can sharpen a jawline, but it does not remove fat. Neither treats buccal fat fullness, and anyone offering them for it is describing an indirect effect at best.

Morpheus8 and Laser Skin Tightening

Morpheus8 (microneedling with radiofrequency) and the Fotona 4D laser facelift tighten skin and give a subtle improvement in facial contour. They do not reduce facial fat substantially, but they can refine the appearance of a face with mild concerns.

Cheek Filler for Contour

Counter-intuitively, adding filler to specific areas such as the cheekbones or jawline can make a face look slimmer by creating contrast. People with flat cheekbones can look rounder simply because nothing breaks up the soft tissue. See our guide to cheek fillers.

For the full range of non-surgical options, see our guide to non-surgical alternatives to buccal fat removal.

Face Fat Removal Surgery: Buccal Fat Removal and Facial Liposuction

When the fullness is genuinely buccal fat, or stubborn fat under the skin that has not responded to weight loss, surgery is the definitive option.

Buccal Fat Removal

Buccal fat removal is the standard treatment for genuinely prominent buccal fat pads. A small incision inside the mouth, so with no visible scar, gives access to the fat pad, and part of it is removed^[1]. At Centre for Surgery it is performed under local anaesthetic, takes around 45 to 60 minutes, and you go home the same day. Most people return to work within about a week. The result is permanent, because buccal fat does not grow back.

We remove only part of the fat pad, never all of it. Complete removal can leave the face looking gaunt as natural ageing removes more volume over the following decades, and partial removal balances a slimmer cheek now against how the face will age.

It is worth knowing how thin the published evidence is. A 2021 systematic review in Medicina Oral, Patología Oral y Cirugía Bucal ↗ found only four usable studies. In the one that measured it, cheek fat volume fell by about 3 mL, 85% of patients rated their facial contour as much better, and there were seven complications in 134 procedures, but none of the studies followed patients up over the long term^[12]. That is part of why careful case selection matters so much. For prices, see our guide to buccal fat removal cost.

Facial and Chin Liposuction

For more diffuse fat under the skin rather than buccal fat, small-volume liposuction of the jowls, chin and neck can refine the lower face. Our guide to whether liposuction can be done on the face explains which areas are suitable, and chin and neck liposuction is the most common version. If your fullness is mainly under the jaw, see whether chin liposuction can fix a double chin and how to get rid of a fat neck.

Combining Treatments

Many people benefit from a combination: buccal fat removal for the cheek, jaw slimming injections for the masseter, and filler for cheekbone definition. Your consultation establishes which combination, if any, suits your face.

Will Removing Face Fat Make You Look Older?

The most important conversation about chubby cheeks is not about how you look today but about how you will look at 50 or 60.

The youthful face is full. What looks like chubby cheeks at 20 is often the youthful fullness that distinguishes young faces from older ones.

Faces lose volume with age. A CT study comparing older and younger faces found that the midface fat compartments shift downwards with age, and that specific compartments lose volume, including the deep cheek fat and the forward extension of the buccal fat pad^[13]. By the 50s and 60s, faces that started fuller have often aged better than faces that started thin. Our guide to how the face ages decade by decade explains the timeline.

Aggressive fat removal in youth can age badly. People who had extensive buccal fat removal in their twenties can look prematurely gaunt in their forties, with sunken cheeks that then need volume adding back. The move towards more conservative removal reflects that experience.

Reversible options first. Before committing to permanent fat removal, consider whether jaw slimming injections (which wear off), filler (which can be dissolved) or lifestyle changes (which are free) would be enough.

Timing matters. By your late twenties and thirties, the face has started its natural volume changes, and removing buccal fat has less effect on how you age. We do not operate on anyone under 18, and we usually advise people under about 25 to wait.

None of this is a reason to avoid buccal fat removal. For the right person it gives an excellent result. It is a reason to think carefully, choose conservative removal, and be honest about the trade-off.

How to Choose the Right Face Slimming Treatment

Step 1: Identify the cause. An examination shows which of fat, muscle, fluid and bone are contributing. Self-diagnosis often confuses them.

Step 2: Start with reversible options. Fix sleep, salt and alcohol. If the masseter contributes, try jaw slimming injections. If general facial fat contributes, work on overall weight.

Step 3: Reassess after six to twelve months. Whatever fullness remains after lifestyle changes and non-surgical treatment is what genuinely needs surgery.

Step 4: Choose conservative surgery if you need it. If buccal fat removal is right for you, partial removal protects how your face will age. At Centre for Surgery there is a two-week cooling-off period between consultation and surgery.

Step 5: Reassess as you age. Facial ageing changes the equation, and what suits you in your twenties may not suit you in your forties.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Choose Centre for Surgery for Face Slimming?

Every operation at Centre for Surgery is performed by a GMC-registered plastic surgeon, at our CQC-regulated hospital at 95–97 Baker Street. The surgeon who assesses you at consultation is the surgeon who performs your surgery. Before recommending anything, your surgeon will work out whether the fullness is fat, muscle or fluid, and a meaningful number of face-slimming consultations end with advice not to have surgery at all. We publish our clinical outcomes and patient safety data.

Finance is available through Chrysalis Finance, subject to status. See our finance options page for details.

Phone: 020 7993 4849 | Address: 95–97 Baker Street, Marylebone, London W1U 6RN
Contact us to schedule a consultation

References

1. Stuzin JM, Wagstrom L, Kawamoto HK, Baker TJ, Wolfe SA. The anatomy and clinical applications of the buccal fat pad. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 1990;85(1):29–37. doi:10.1097/00006534-199001000-00006 ↗
2. Zhang HM, Yan YP, Qi KM, Wang JQ, Liu ZF. Anatomical structure of the buccal fat pad and its clinical adaptations. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2002;109(7):2509–2518. doi:10.1097/00006534-200206000-00052 ↗
3. Rohrich RJ, Pessa JE. The fat compartments of the face: anatomy and clinical implications for cosmetic surgery. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2007;119(7):2219–2227. doi:10.1097/01.prs.0000265403.66886.54 ↗
4. Coetzee V, Perrett DI, Stephen ID. Facial adiposity: a cue to health? Perception 2009;38(11):1700–1711. doi:10.1068/p6423 ↗
5. Tinlin RM, Watkins CD, Welling LLM, DeBruine LM, Al-Dujaili EAS, Jones BC. Perceived facial adiposity conveys information about women’s health. British Journal of Psychology 2013;104(2):235–248. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2012.02117.x ↗
6. Sundelin T, Lekander M, Kecklund G, Van Someren EJW, Olsson A, Axelsson J. Cues of fatigue: effects of sleep deprivation on facial appearance. Sleep 2013;36(9):1355–1360. doi:10.5665/sleep.2964 ↗
7. Vispute SS, Smith JD, LeCheminant JD, Hurley KS. The effect of abdominal exercise on abdominal fat. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2011;25(9):2559–2564. doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181fb4a46 ↗
8. Alam M, Walter AJ, Geisler A, et al. Association of facial exercise with the appearance of aging. JAMA Dermatology 2018;154(3):365–367. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.5142 ↗
9. Rauso R, Lo Giudice G, Tartaro G, Zerbinati N, Nicoletti GF, Fragola R. Botulinum toxin type A injections for masticatory muscles hypertrophy: a systematic review. Journal of Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery 2022;50(1):7–18. doi:10.1016/j.jcms.2021.09.019 ↗
10. Jones DH, Carruthers J, Joseph JH, et al. REFINE-1, a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial with ATX-101, an injectable drug for submental fat reduction. Dermatologic Surgery 2016;42(1):38–49. doi:10.1097/DSS.0000000000000578 ↗
11. Humphrey S, Sykes J, Kantor J, et al. ATX-101 for reduction of submental fat: a phase III randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 2016;75(4):788–797.e7. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2016.04.028 ↗
12. Traboulsi-Garet B, Camps-Font O, Traboulsi-Garet M, Gay-Escoda C. Buccal fat pad excision for cheek refinement: a systematic review. Medicina Oral, Patología Oral y Cirugía Bucal 2021;26(4):e474–e481. doi:10.4317/medoral.24335 ↗
13. Gierloff M, Stöhring C, Buder T, Gassling V, Açil Y, Wiltfang J. Aging changes of the midfacial fat compartments: a computed tomographic study. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2012;129(1):263–273. doi:10.1097/PRS.0b013e3182362b96 ↗