Hollywood’s Pillow Face is a Problem

As many of you know, I love facial volumization in which lost soft tissue of the face from aging is restored using fat grafting and/or injectable fillers.  The word that has dominated the media is a “pillow face” to describe this facial fullness.  I am very adverse to this moniker, as I believe Hollywood (like most things) has taken volumization to an unsightly extreme.  Faces that lose volume, especially in the late thirties and early forties, do not lose that much volume but they are overplumped up.  They do not look fat, just weird.  I think when surgeons lack taste and artistic discretion they overpull people that do not need that much pulling.  Similarly, women are now overfilled when they did not need that much to begin with.  Further, just filling out a cheek, which is what I oftentimes see to be the case, makes people look like chipmunks and creates overall facial imbalance.  When I perform cosmetic facial fillers or cosmetic fat transfer I balance the entire face so that it looks natural and youthful.  Just making a cheek big looks like you have had bad dental work or are storing nuts for the winter.  Judgment, taste and artistry are what separate good work from the ridiculous.  A lesson I hope Hollywood learns soon.

Sam M. Lam, MD, FACS is a board certified plastic surgeon in Dallas, Texas. To schedule a consultation please call 972.312.8105. To Learn more about Dr Lams’ plastic surgery procedures at https://www.lamfacialplastics.com/plastic-surgery-procedures-dallas/ or to ask Dr Lam a question please visit his plastic surgery forums.