Cheekbone (Zygoma) Reduction

Who it is for

• Your face is flat and wide, especially across the middle
• People often say you look harsh
• From the front, your cheekbones stick out and your face looks uneven
• From a 45° angle, your cheekbones are all anyone notices
• The area below your cheekbones is hollow and shadowed

What is cheekbone reduction?

The cheekbones are a key part of the contour and size of the face. Their shape, size and position greatly change how the face looks.

A smooth cheekbone line looks attractive, but cheekbones that stick out too far look bony and rugged. In Korea, women with prominent cheekbones have long been said to look strong-willed.

In the West, surgery to make the cheekbones look larger is popular, while in East Asia many people want them reduced. Cheekbone reduction can soften a rugged look.

Cheekbone types and choosing a method

Cheekbones can flare out to the side, push forward, or do both.

Cheekbones that flare to the side make the face look larger. Cheekbones that push forward look as if there is a ball in each cheek, whether you are smiling or not.

Cheekbones can be reshaped with surgery or without it. For surgery, we choose what your face needs from several options. These include the soft face-off method and incisions behind the ears, inside the mouth or at the forehead.

How the surgery is done

The cheekbone is made up of the body at the front of the cheek and the arch that runs sideways toward the ear.

The body and arch are cut, and the cheekbone is moved inward to narrow the face. At KOKO Plastic Surgery, we use a triple osteotomy, cutting the bone in three places.

It reduces the side and front of the cheekbone at the same time. It can also be expected to reduce the area near the temples, which was hard to reach with the conventional two-cut method.

A short surgery with no fixation pins

In conventional cheekbone reduction, the cut bone is held with fixation pins, so a second surgery was needed later to remove them. Our method uses no fixation pins, so there is no pin-removal surgery and no pins show on X-rays.

Surgery takes about 15 minutes per side. The longer a surgery lasts, the stronger the swelling and the higher the risk of inflammation. By keeping surgery short, we aim to limit the strain on your body and make it easier to return to daily life.

Recovery and results vary from person to person.

Cheekbones that stand out with age

If you have strong cheekbones, the skin stretches with age and the cheekbones stand out even more. As the years go by, they often become more prominent and make the face look harsher.

At KOKO Plastic Surgery, we also examine your skin before deciding the method, aiming for a youthful, softer look.

Aftercare

The cheekbone starts to knit about 3 weeks after surgery and is firmly healed at about 1.5 months. How you spend this time affects the result.

• Swelling and bruising appear for about 2 days after surgery, then gradually fade over about 2 weeks.
• Until day 4 after surgery, cool the area often (repeat 15 minutes of cooling and 5 minutes of rest). From day 4, switch to warm packs to help the swelling go down faster.
• When sleeping, keep your upper body raised and your face above your heart. From around days 7–10 until about 1 month after surgery, sleep on your side. Rest the cheekbone area on a firm pillow or similar, and switch sides.
• Keep the compression band on until the tape on your face comes off on day 4. After that, wear it every day for about 1.5 months.
• The drain inside the mouth comes out on days 6–7. Eat soft food for 3 weeks after surgery, and wait 1.5 months before eating anything hard.
• Avoid smoking and alcohol for 4 weeks after surgery. For about 1.5 months, until the bone has firmly healed, take care not to bump your face or fall.