Cheekbones: supporting the midface

Cheekbone reshaping encompasses the techniques that restore projection and support to the midface, the area between the eye and the mouth. It is a key region: good cheekbone support brightens the complexion and defines the oval of the face, while its loss creates an early impression of tiredness.

With age, in fact, it’s not only the skin that changes: the bone of the facial skeleton slightly resorbs, and the soft tissues, losing their support, slide downward. This “drop” in the midface creates the effect of a face hollowed out above and weighed down below, well before deeper wrinkles appear.

Solutions, from the lightest to the surgical

The different approaches should not be confused with one another. In early cases, a filler or fat grafting — transferring the patient’s own fat — can restore volume in an additive, gradual way. When the problem is more structural, surgery comes into play, with additive malaroplasty or a midface lift, which repositions the tissues that have descended. The choice depends on the degree of sagging, not on trends.

Filler and fat grafting restore projection to the midface in an additive, gradual way, avoiding an “overdone” effect.

Moderation as the guiding principle

The risk in this region is excess: cheekbones that are too “full” or overly projected create the artificial look that patients fear today. Good practice favors natural support, calibrated to the volumes the person originally had, not to an imported ideal. The goal is for the face to look rested, not “redone.”

Who it is suitable for

Candidates are those who notice a loss of projection and a new shadow under the eye, a sign of the midface dropping. The evaluation determines, case by case, whether an additive approach is enough or a surgical repositioning is needed, and how gradually to proceed.

Restoring a good midface, then, means working on the light of the face, with discretion. The difference between a natural result and an excessive one lies entirely in moderation and selection, worked out during the consultation.