Exploring the Malar Fat Pad and How to Lift It

A common reason why many celebrities have such radiant smiles isn't because of God-given genetics and bleached teeth. It's because surgeons have removed their cheek fat, creating high cheekbones for a younger appearance.

The malar fat pad is often overlooked when considering facial aesthetics. While it's not a household term, it plays a massive role in shaping the contours of your face and giving you a youthful appearance.

What is a Malar Fat Pad?

The malar fat pad is located right above your cheekbone and creates the structure that lifts your face. 

At younger ages, the malar fat pad sits on the cheekbone segment under your eyes. It gives you fullness and a youthful contour that is accentuated every time you smile.

With age, gravity pulls the fat pad down, causing droopy cheeks that make you look like you're always frowning.

Malar Fat Pad Separation

The dropping of the fat pad creates an indentation between the tear trough area and extends down the middle of the cheek.

This malar fat pad consists of fibrous and fatty tissue. Mid-face ptosis is the scientific term used to describe this drop of fat. Either damaged nerves or muscle weakness causes ptosis. 

The specific muscle affected is the malaris muscle, which is responsible for creating a lifting effect on the soft tissues around the cheek.

Restoring a Malar Fat Pad

Over time, the mid-facial muscles lose strength, or nerve damage causes low-hanging malar fat, as mentioned earlier.

The loss of cheek volume can be treated in the following manner:

• Facelift: These procedures reposition underlying tissue and redrape the skin to create an uplifted contour on the face.

• Dermal fillers: these injectable treatments can restore lost volume by using synthetic materials to lift the face.

• Fat grafting: Precise amounts of fat can be transferred from one area of the body to your cheekbones to lift the midface.

People with a tired, aged appearance in the midface are great candidates for these procedures.

Facelifts to Elevate the Malar Fat Pad

Several types of face lift procedures can rejuvenate facial skin. A midface lift, mini facelift, or thread lift are all variants designed to elevate malar fat.

Midface Lifts to Enhance Malar Fat

The midface lift procedure involves making incisions to lift the midface tissues and malar fat pad upward on the face.

The surgeon will cut ligaments that retain the cheek tissues. The tissues and malar fat pad are placed higher near your eye socket. The skin is then draped over the elevated area, creating a tighter appearance for your face.

Mini Facelifts

A mini facelift is a more subtle performance of the traditional facelift. It's an invasive cosmetic procedure that uses incisions to pull up sagging skin. The malar fat pad isn't repositioned within this procedure.

Thread Lifts

A thread lift is a procedure in which sutures are placed to produce a lifting effect on the skin. Instead of removing loose skin, the procedure stitches and 'knits' the skin, pulling it back to lift and tighten the face.

Dermal Fillers to Restore Volume on the Face

Patients who would rather stay away from a fully invasive facial plastic surgery often opt for dermal fillers to restore facial volume. 

Dermal fillers can restore lost volume predictably and safely. They are non-surgical solutions that can be performed in-house at any aesthetic clinic. 

The active ingredients in these dermal fillers can be hyaluronic acid, poly-L-lactic acid, or calcium hydroxylapatite. Don't let the scientific jargon confuse you. These ingredients can give your skin volume, keep it hydrated, and produce collagen.

Collagen is an essential substance that helps keep your skin tight. Usually, women of older age begin to produce less collagen, which is why supplements or dermal fillers can help. 

The main downside to fillers is that they degrade over time, meaning patients must return for frequent touch-ups.

Fat Grafting for a Plumper Malar Fat Pad

Beyond age or weakened muscles, a reason for not having that lifted appearance can often be not having enough malar fat or you're genetically predisposed to having a thinner face.

Facial fat grafting, or transferring fat from one body area to another, can give your face a plumper appearance. 

This process generally consists of having liposuction performed on a 'harvest area' of the body. A precise amount of fat can be removed from your thighs, processed, and injected into your malar fat pad to add volume and create a youthful contour.

Do Surgeons Recommend Malar Fat Pad Removal?

Malar fat pad removal isn't recommended if you want a youthful, lifted appearance on your face.

Removing the malar fat pad will likely provide a more gaunt, flat look. It can even accentuate an aged appearance and produce aesthetic irregularities.

Furthermore, removing the malar fat pad is difficult without leaving visible scars. That said, surgeons do not recommend this procedure for patients who are interested in appearing younger.

Created a Young & Lifted Face with AirSculpt® Lift

AirSculpt® procedures are designed to produce precise results in a minimally invasive manner.

AirSculpt® Lift is a facial fat transfer technique that does not use scalpels, stitches, needles, or general anesthesia. Therefore, it reduces the potential risks in traditional facelifting or liposuction-based fat transfer procedures.

As Miami-based, board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Armin Karl Moshyedi details above, there are a slew of advantages to using fat as a filler.

Naturally restoring lost volume and eliminating wrinkles with fat, rather than synthetic fillers, provides a more subtle and realistic result. 

Fat injections in the face last several years, unlike fillers requiring re-treatments and touch-ups. Finally, facial fat transfers have no risk of hypersensitivity reactions, which can occur with dermal fillers.

For more information on how we can help you, schedule a complimentary consultation at our select locations that provide the AirSculpt® Lift. 

If you are interested in this exclusive fat transfer to the face treatment in Miami, contact our AirSculpt office on Miami Beach for your free consultation. Otherwise, find the body sculpting center nearest you to get started today.