Beauty Doc Blog

Fat grafting, or fat transfer is an exciting non-invasive procedure that tends to give excellent results to those who utilize it. It returns a youthful appearance and is increasing in popularity. Fat transfer is a procedure to remove excess fat cells from parts of your body and re-implant them where they are needed elsewhere in your body. With this method a patient’s own fat can simply be relocated. Common areas include the mouth and loose folds under the eyes, in the lips, the chin, temples, cheeks, and other areas. The fat is harvested from an area like the buttocks, abdomen or thighs. Then it is purified to get fat cells, and then injected into the desired site of the body.

The Advantage of Fat Grafting

Fat grafting advantages are obvious. Taking fat from the patient’s own body and inserting it where needed means no potential allergic reaction. Other potential implants or fillers always have a potential for problems when injected into the body, but the patient’s body will always accept its own fat. The procedure is relatively simple and performed usually on an outpatient basis.

Lasts Longest In Areas of Non Movement

Fat grafting tends to last longer in larger areas of non-movement in the body, so while it is generally very successful for correction of grooves under the eyes or for sunken cheeks, it may not be quite as successful for creating fuller lips. Fat grafting can also correct aging of the hands where natural tissue has been lost between the bones.

The Procedure Is Not New

Fat transfer has become very popular recently but it is not a new procedure. In 1893 soft tissue defects were repaired using free fat autografts. Abdominal fat was used to correct chin problems as early as 1909, and hemifacial atrophy and breast defects were repaired using fat transfer, but it was liposuction in the 1980’s that led to today’s fat grafting or fat transfer techniques, successful for more patients every year.

Extracting fat cells form the patient’s thighs, buttocks or abdomen and re-injecting them under the facial skin allows filling in sunken checks, reducing laugh lines, correcting indentations and depressions and minimization of forehand wrinkles. Using a syringe to withdraw the fat, or a cannula as is used in liposuction, the fat can then be injected into the recipient site using a needle generally with few complications, making the procedure more popular than ever.