Buccal Fat Pad Removal and Masseter Muscle Botox for Improving Facial Aesthetic: A Systematic Review of Clinical Trials

Introduction: Masseter muscle hypertrophy can cause a prominent mandibular angle, which results in an unaesthetic lower face contour. Botox injection is a minimally invasive procedure compared to conventional surgery and is safe and easy to handle. Patients often request an aesthetic alteration by surgical procedures or masseter muscle injections to attain an aesthetic facial contour. While aesthetic surgery can reshape the lower face contour, numerous patients still choose a minimally invasive therapeutic approach. Aim: This study aims to review published articles that discussed the effect of buccal fat pad removal versus masseter muscle Botox for improving facial aesthetics. Materials and Methods: A literature search was performed from multiple databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, and Google Scholar. The most eligible articles were included using specific keywords. The literature search was limited to full-text English articles, which were screened for eligibility by two reviewers. Results and Discussion: Six studies were included in our study, these studies demonstrated that aesthetic results were improved in all discussed clinical trials. However, more clinical trials are needed for fat pad removal surgery trials. Conclusion: Our study showed that masseter muscle Botox injection can improve overall facial aesthetic appearance. However, more clinical trials are needed for buccal fat