Explosion of interest in buccal fat removal after Lea Michele's Insta post

While reducing the buccal fat under your cheeks can make them look chiselled, it is a permanent procedure and can end up making you look emaciated as you age. — AFP

It took only one photo, posted by American actress Lea Michele, to propel a relatively mundane cosmetic surgery procedure several decades old to the rank of beauty obsession of the moment on social media.

Buccal fat removal, which several celebrities may have benefited from, promises to sculpt the face in the swipe of a scalpel... or almost.