Fat Injection

Fat Injection: Lipostructure

Fat injection and fat transfer are the process of taking fat from your stomach area (or another area) and injecting it into your facial area. The goal of the procedure is to add fullness to the face and by feature of the fullness, give some lifting to the general facial structure.

As we age, the dermis under your skin thins out. This can leave the face looking too thin and has the effect of making the skin look like it sags. This happens to women of all body types: small frame, medium frame, large frame. Fat injections add fat to the area beneath the skin and have the effect of 'filling out the face' to a more youthful state.

Some patients think that fat injections do not last. It is not the case. When properly done, a large percentage of the injected fat cells do indeed survive. These are permanent. Since some fat cells are lost, the effect of the fat transfer is not as dramatic after a few weeks. For this reason, we tend to ‘overcorrect’, or inject more than we need to, knowing that after a few weeks the final result will be more to the patient’s liking. If we inject less, the patient may be happy with the initial result, but be disappointed over time as the results lessen.

Fat injections can be done under local or sedation anesthesia. A fat-injection procedure is a two-step process that may require more than one visit to the doctor. The fat must be harvested from somewhere on your own body -- Using small syringes, fat is harvested from the hip, inner or outer thigh, lower back, or lower abdomen. After it is extracted, it is placed in a special centrifuge to separate the fat from surrounding tissues, packed into a large syringe to accommodate its granular nature and then is injected into the desired area.

Because fat is a bit larger than other injectable materials, it is almost always injected more deeply into the skin. Volumes of up to 50-100 cc can be used to over the entire face. (Fat is the only injectable material that can be used at these larger volumes.) The injected fat plumps and tightens the skin, thereby decreasing (and in some cases eliminating) wrinkles, scars and lines from sagging skin.

Fat injections can significantly reduce or eliminate wrinkles and other skin imperfections. It can also give patients a more youthful appearance by reestablishing pleasing contours. Fat is the first choice of material when injections are needed in deeper layers of tissue or larger volumes (greater than 10cc).

However, injected fat may not last as long as some other materials. The fat is slowly absorbed by the body, although the amount of absorption is variable, and frequently hard to predict. Typically, more than half of the fat used in injectable treatments is absorbed with six months of the operation. Almost all patients will permanently retain some of the injected fat. However this percentage varies from patient to patient. If a significant amount of fat is absorbed, a second procedure may be needed to completely correct the sagging, wrinkling or other skin imperfections.

The amount of pain during any cosmetic surgery varies from patient to patient. However, the discomfort associated with injectables is normally relatively mild. In many cases, fat injections are performed without anesthesia. This may be somewhat painful to patients, depending on the site of injection. For instance, the area of skin around the lips is one of the more sensitive parts of the body. Injections performed on the cheek, chin and eye area are usually less painful.

Fat transfers can be similarly used for buttocks augmentation. This is also known as the Brazilian Butt lift. Fat is first liposuctioned from the stomach or flank area and then processed in a special decanting technique. The purified fat is then transferred or injected into the butt with special cannulas. Using fat transfers for butt augmentation gives a very flattering, sensual, and naturally contour look.

Another area which can benefit from fat injections is the hands. Fat injections to the hands can give the hand a fuller and younger contour. Please read my blog post to read more about fat injection to the hands.

Compared to injectable facial fillers such as Restylane, fat transfers are more of an involved procedure because the fat has to be harvested from another part of the body. However, unlike injectable fillers, fat transfers can be used in larger volumes to fill larger defects.