Thank you for your question.
You’ve asked in your question, without submitting an image, how do you improve your cheekbone
area without looking like a chipmunk and you mentioned a celebrity who you feel doesn’t
look the way you would like.
And so, I can certainly share with you my experience discussing this type of question
in my practice every day.
A little bit of background, I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial
plastic and reconstructive surgeon.
I have been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years.
Fillers are a very significant part of my practice.
We go through a lot.
We help people with both enhancing features that are naturally in a good place and we
help a lot of people with facial aging who’ve lost a lot of volume to restore.
So certainly, we have a lot of this type of activity in our practice and I can certainly
share with you that your concerns are pretty consistently the same, not with this particular
celebrity but with lots of celebrities.
We’ve always looked up to celebrities to guide us to what is attractive and sometimes,
a little imbalance can cause people to really get concerned about what is ideal and possible.
Very often patients say to me, “If celebrities are so rich and are able to get anything they
want, why do a lot of them end up like this?”
Well, it really has a lot more to do with the individual’s perception of what is attractive
and their doctor’s perception of what is attractive.
So to begin with, I would say to avoid looking like a “chipmunk”, it’s very important
that you work with a doctor whose perceptions and aesthetic style doesn’t result in patients
looking like that and you can tell that by looking at before and after pictures.
Very often, you’ll see members of the same staff and you can tell by looking at the staff.
Very often, staff members will be very happy to share with you what they have done so you
can certainly get a sense of the doctor’s aesthetic.
But when it comes to this chipmunk cheek look which is unfortunately, a lot more common
and is often seen in the streets of New York City as well as in the areas of Long Island
where our offices are, I would say that one of the things that is basically the consequence
of good intention is that volume loss which is what happens with facial aging or to enhance
or volume augment for a younger person, very often, you don’t realize and appreciate
the dynamic nature.
When you are at rest, that look may be fine but when you smile, that volume can end up
shifting upwards and making the area look like very chipmunk-like.
So what I try to help people understand is when we enhance cheekbones, we do something
called structural volumizing.
So distinguish this from what is generally done which is done by more than 99% of doctors
is the fillers, injectable fillers are placed typically in the skin level or just below
the skin level, in the soft tissue, right under the fat cell layer.
What that means is that the skin is mobile and it moves around.
And in contrast, what we do with structural volumizing which is at the structural level,
at the bone level, between the bones and the muscles.
By enhancing the cheekbone, what happens is the cheekbone of course is stable and the
skin slides over normally.
Therefore, you are not pushing the volume that you placed upward creating a chipmunk
look.
So it’s a strategy that is very elegant and it is very nicely done.
When people look at themselves when I’ve done this, they look at the mirror and they’re
just really excited and happy about how nice, natural and at the same time, how dramatic
it can be.
It’s really about the art of placement and the art of location and really having the
right vision.
So I spend a lot of time with my patients to try to figure this out because the cheek
is not just one spot.
It basically starts in the center of your face and goes back so you have to be very
clear.
You and your doctor have to have a good understanding.
So what I’ll typically do is I’ll actually draw on the patient and I’ll show where
I’m going and what I’m planning to do.
And it’s almost like a road map and then placement is done and with that, I’ll actually
do this in a way where my assistants also give me a feedback.
And so my assistants tell me that it looks good and they like the way it looks.
It’s usually right on the mark.
So again, I think that the structural volumizing concept is something that can help you avoid
the chipmunk look but I think as important as the level of placement and if not more
important is the vision and the artistic sense of the doctor you’re going to.
So meet with several doctors.
Learn about your options.
See what their style is.
Get to know the doctor and see if this concept resonates and when you see their results and
if you like the results, then it’s a good chance you’ll like what you’ll have when
you have this done.
It’s very important to have a good relationship.
When I think of myself and the way I take care of my patients and being in practice
over 20 years, I’m basically their primary care doctor for beauty.
And we have long standing relationship where they’ll come in for one thing and we’ll
get that done and then a few months later, they come in for something else or a year
later, it depends.
But at least what we have is a good relationship where the patient and I are at the same frequency
and that’s very important because when you have that relationship, you can continuously
address any issues as they come up and explore things in a way that makes optimal sense so
that you look natural and just look a little bit better.
So I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question.