The rise in niche cosmetic surgeries sparks debate online

The ever-growing list of available cosmetic surgeries continues to generate new ways for us to dislike ourselves, but online narratives prove that some are just too ridiculous to buy into.

‘What do you want for your birthday?’ my mom asked when visiting me last year in London. Turning away from a mirror to look at her, I half-jokingly replied: buccal fat removal.

To clarify, buccal fat removal entails removing fat from the cheek area of the face to create narrower, more defined cheekbones. It is achieved by making two small incisions on the inside of the mouth where the fat pads are pulled out from.

It requires only local anaesthesia, with stitches healing in about 2–4 weeks. Results are visible from six months to a year afterwards, but it can offer a permanently snatched look that otherwise washes off when achieved with contouring makeup.

The request for this lesser-known cosmetic procedure triggered a series of questions from my mother, not dissimilar to the ones thousands of young people have been punching into the internet in recent weeks.

The non-invasive surgery has been trending on Twitter, resulting in a discussion…