Resumen de Buccal Fat Pad: “Glandula” of Heister or “Boule Graisseuse” of Bichat?

Gian Luca Mascolo, Nicolino Calabrese, Stefano Eramo

• Two prominent personalities in Medicine, Lorenz Heister (1683-1758) and Xavier Bichat (1771- 1802), compete for the attribution of the discovery of the buccal fat pad (BFP). A careful reading of the original texts reported here, seems to identify Bichat as the first to describe the BFP. However, Heister most probably was the first to describe an accessory parotid gland.