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Minnesota surgeons divided on buccal fat pad removal
Plastic surgery centers across the Twin Cities have seen an influx of requests for buccal fat pad removal, but not all will perform the procedure.
BURNSVILLE, Minn. — Corinne Carrasco said she has been self-conscious of her “round” cheeks her entire life. The 31-year-old makes YouTube videos for her 18,000 subscribers from her home in Plymouth. She said it’s been her biggest insecurity.
“I always struggled with my chubby cheeks,” Carrasco said. “No matter how much weight I lose, I always had this fat in my cheeks.”
So last year the plastic surgeon Carrasco sees for her routine Botox and jawline filler, Dr. Karan Chopra, recommended she look into buccal fat pad surgery. The procedure removes a portion of cheek fat through an incision in the mouth.
Carrasco researched the procedure and felt it would help her achieve a more contoured look. The low recovery time and ease of the surgery (performed in under an hour) also interested her, so in August she scheduled the appointment in Burnsville for January of this year.
A month before her surgery, she saw the surgery begin to trend on social media. TikTokers began sharing their experiences with the procedure, including celebrities like Chrissy Teigen.
Data from Google Trends shows searches for “buccal fat” and “buccal fat removal” spiked the week of Dec. 11 and though the search is tapering off, it still remains at more-than-double the search interest it maintained for most of 2022.
“It just felt like I was the first one… ahead of the game,” Carrasco said.
Dr. Chopra, who had already been performing the surgery regularly, said his office received an influx of calls requesting the procedure around the same time.
“Patients are requesting it more commonly because they’re more aware of it with social media influencers, TikTokers, and celebrities who are coming out and talking about the procedure that they’ve had,” Dr. Chopra said. “When they show me pictures of what they want to look like, they’ll often show me a reel, or a TikTok, or an Instagram post or something like that.”
But just as the demand for the procedure surged, so did the controversy surrounding it. Even though the surgery only recently started to trend, Dr. Chopra said Carrasco’s years-long desire to have slimmer cheeks made her a good candidate.
“Most commonly, patients are coming in seeking a buccal fat removal because they either think they have “chipmunk cheeks” or when they smile, they have excess fullness in the lower face,” Dr. Chopra said. “The third, is usually a patient who doesn’t have chubby cheeks, but just want their cheekbones to be accentuated.”
However, many plastic surgeons say that the last point is the very reason they’re against performing the procedure.
Dr. Matthew Camp, CEO of Echelon Surgical Specialists in Edina and Minnetonka, said he has a “philosophical problem” with the surgery. Even though he, too, has received a surge in requests for the surgery, he won’t perform it.
“That fat pad is there for a reason: it adds volume to the face,” Dr. Camp said. “Part of the appearance of a youthful, healthy face, is roundness of the cheek. And if you chisel the fat out, you get this sort of gaunt, chiseled appearance that looks somewhat haggard.”
Dr. Camp, who also serves as an assistant professor of plastic surgery at Mayo Clinic, said in his 11 years of practice, he’s spent a lot of his time trying to restore fat to the face, not take it away.
“It’s a look that most people don’t benefit from in the long-run, because having a round cheek makes you look youthful, and you need that as you get older,” he said. “As you get older, that fat atrophies on its own. And that’s what makes old people look old.”
Physicians, divided over the surgery, have also taken to Tiktok. Dr. Ellen Gendler, an NYC-based cosmetic dermatologist, posted a video to TikTok calling the surgery “the dumbest trend” she’s seen in a long time.
While plastic surgeon Dr. Mike Nayak, of St. Louis, said in his own TikTok if he “judiciously” removes a portion of buccal fat, it will improve facial balance and maintain a desired long-term effect.
Dr. Chopra said he’s aware of the concerns but believes the procedure is misunderstood by most.
“The key with a successful buccal fat pad procedure is not to remove it entirely, but rather to sculpt it and look for the aesthetic endpoints we have in mind with careful, preoperative planning,” Dr. Chopra said. “The reason is because if you overdo it, it’s very difficult to replace this specialized fat.”
Carrasco won’t see her full results until around six weeks or more, according to Dr. Chopra, but she’s excited to “be more confident overall.” She already posted a vlog about her experience and in the video, encouraged her viewers (especially younger ones) to carefully research any body modifications before proceeding.
“Trends change, and the procedure that you’re gonna get done does not, so you really gotta think about what you want for yourself, for your happiness, and not what’s trending,” she said.
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The board said performances and classes will cease with the theater’s closure at the end of October.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis theater community was dealt a huge blow Friday after it was announced a popular improv performance space will close next month.
Managing director of Uptown’s HUGE Improv Theater, Sean Dillon, confirmed the news to KARE 11 Friday afternoon. Dillon said performances and classes will cease with the theater’s closure at the end of October. A Facebook post published by the theater chalked up the reasons for the decision as “complex, but they ultimately boil down to money.”
“The Board has concluded that, after a series of expected and unexpected challenges, cash flow just cannot sustain the work HUGE was set out to accomplish,” the post reads.
But while the theater maintains the closure comes amid financial troubles, some members of the community believe the closure is related to the resignation of the theater’s co-founder Butch Roy and artistic director Becky Hauser last month. The resignations came after it was alleged the theater whitewashed casting for an upcoming show. The theater’s co-executive and inclusion director, John Gebretatose, went on to write an open letter, questioning the theater’s commitment to diversity among its performers.
Following the resignations, the board released a statement on its website, saying it was “in the process of developing a plan to ensure we reflect our ideal that improv is for everyone.”
The HUGE Improv Theater Board also denied the rumors in its social media post Friday.
“We want to be emphatically clear: the open letter raising concerns about diversity on HUGE’s stage is not the reason for this closure,” the post said. “HUGE was already in a precarious financial situation, and there simply isn’t a viable way forward.
“Our struggle to find sufficient stable funding in no way diminishes the amazing work that HUGE has produced and supported over the years, and more importantly the diverse and enthusiastic community it has fostered.
“We know work still lies ahead to ensure that improv in the Twin Cities is truly a space for everyone, and we look to our community to continue these vital and challenging conversations.”
Co-founder Jill Bernard, who began improv in 1993, is grateful to have helped take the Minneapolis improv scene to new heights.
“When I started improv in 1993, there were very few women, there were very BIPOC performers, and we’ve sort of changed everything that’s possible for people to really hear and use their own voices on stage,” Bernard said. “And I feel like HUGE was a big part of that.”
The theater said it plans to run its shows through October as planned, as well as its fall term classes. The board encouraged the community to support performers and “participate in the life of the theater to the fullest extent you can.”
“There will be more to share as we move forward, but for now: thank you all for everything you have given to this place, and for always being the beating heart of what makes HUGE HUGE.”
A Shorewood woman died Friday after being hit by a truck while crossing the street.
SHOREWOOD, Minn — A woman died on Friday after being hit by a truck while crossing a highway in Shorewood.
It happened at about 1 p.m., according to Minnesota State Patrol, on Highway 7.
Officials said the 65-year-old woman from Shorewood was walking across the highway at Christmas Lake Road when she was struck by a Ford F150 that was turning left onto Highway 7.
The name of the victim has not yet been made public.
After four years, mounting safety concerns, and a Public Utilities Commission hearing, 100+ wind turbine blades stuck Grand Meadow could finally be on the move.
GRAND MEADOW, Minn. — Wind turbines are a common sight across southern Minnesota, but a massive pile of more than 100+ discarded wind turbine blades isn’t something you see every day.
Unless you live in Grand Meadow.
“The whole town is upset about it,” said Patti Harvey who lives near the lot where the blades have been sitting since 2020. “It’s a real mess.”
“This is a nuisance,” said Mower County Commissioner, Polly Glynn, who also lives in the town, which is about 20 miles south of Rochester.
“I call it a turbine graveyard,” said Grand Meadow City Administrator, James Christian, who has been looking for a way to remove the turbines ever since it was clear that they had overstayed their welcome. The owners thought they’d be here for about three months. This was supposed to be just a temporary lay-down yard.”
NextEra Energy decommissioned the blades from its nearby windfarm in 2020, and paid a start-up called RiverCap to remove them.
“Initially, (RiverCap) was going to recycle them, and crush them down into an aggregate that would then go into concrete,” Christian said. “And then this spinoff company from RiverCap, called Canvus, they were going to turn them into furniture. Outdoor furniture.”
“Everything sounded wonderful, but it just didn’t get done,” said Glynn, who said she spoke to and emailed with the recycling company several times. “But every deadline has come and gone.”
Eventually, Glynn said both companies went out of business and the blades became a growing health and safety issue.
“It’s nasty, just nasty stuff,” Havey said. “It’s dirty and the kids want to play on it and there’s all kinds of critters that live in those things.”
“We’ve had a lot of problems with animals out here,” Christian said. “Raccoons, foxes, and other animals that shouldn’t be in town.”
After yet another deadline came and went in July, Christian stopped playing nice.
“I knocked on every door and called every number I could find until I finally got to the Utilities Commission,” he said.
After looking into the site permit for the wind farm, Christian decided to file a complaint against NextEra Energy.
“In the initial permit application, they said that they were going to have these things taken care of, recycled or put in a proper facility,” he said.
In the PUC hearing about that complaint on Thursday, NextEra Energy representatives said they do not have ownership of the blades, but with the owners out of business and unresponsive the commission ordered NextEra to take action.
“When we do these permits, we expect you to act in good faith and follow your commitments and you have the permit obligation to put them at an appropriate facility,” said commissioner John Tuma. “I find it not appropriate. I find that sticking it in Grand Meadow is not a final resting place.”
NextEra Energy then agreed to get to work.
“Removal must start by Oct. 5 and must be completed by Dec. 15 of this year,” Christian said. “It felt like I was finally being listened to.”
“James (Christian) has really stepped up and tried to get this out,” Glynn said. “I feel pretty good that we’ve got some clout behind it now. Hopefully, it will get done.”
Christian: “I’ll believe it when I see it, but I do have a little more faith than I had yesterday morning.”
Erdahl: “Are they going to throw you a parade if this actually happens?”
Christian: “There was mention yesterday of a parade once the final truck leaves town. Put some banners and ribbons on it.”
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