Fat Transfer

Fat transfer can be used to soften the appearance and feel of implants to give a more natural result.

We like to use the most diet resistant fat from a patients body most commonly thighs, hips or abdomen. The fat is treated very differently in liposuction and a fat transfer. For a fat transfer the fat is harvested very gently using hand suction to preserve its viability. In liposuction a more aggressive machine liposuction is performed which is not good for keeping fat alive.

It is very common in our practice to combine a facelift with a fat transfer. Typically the fat transfer is important for adding volume around the eyes and cheek and mouth area while a facelift lifts the jawline, neck and lower face. The entire procedure of harvesting and injecting the fat and the facelift are performed at the same time in about 3 to 4 hours and save the patient from having multiple surgeries to achieve total facial rejuvenation.

Stem cell facelift/fat transfers do not improve the neck.

Fat transfer is most commonly used in areas where the primary cause of aging is volume loss. The midface which is the cheek, under eye, nasolabial fold region is the most common area. The mouth region particularly along the chin is also important. We will also commonly transfer fat around the upper eye area, temple, lips and jawline.

The donor area will have bruising for about two weeks and will be pretty sore for about one week.  We remove the fat so that there is a cosmetic improvement in the donor areas.

Fat injections are the best way to restore volume to the cheek and area below the cheek.  As you get into the lower part of the face near the sides of the mouth a less experienced surgeon can produce the Brando look.  Beauty and youth in the female face is seen in a heart shaped face with wide full cheek bones and a tapered jawline.  It is often common for us to use fat injections in the cheek (midface) combined with a facelift in the lower face to produce a natural balanced heart shaped face.

Fat injections are an excellent treatment for skeletal appearing hands and provide long lasting and natural results.  Fat injections are not particularly good at improving veiny appearing hands.

Once fat is placed it becomes living tissue and does not move and so it is important to have a surgeon with a large experience with fat transfer.

The American Society of Plastic Surgery, recently changed their official position paper on fat transfer to the breast and now supports it as a safe procedure.  This is based on many studies which demonstrate that there is NO increased risk of cancer or cancer detection following fat transfer to the breast. 

We find it ironic that breast implants which have very significant complications including the current wide scale removal of silicone implants in Europe due to potential for causing cancer have been promoted as being safer than a womans own fat for so many years.