Fat Grafting
Fat grafting has become a favorite tool in the battle against aging. While body fat is generally considered a bad thing, it is actually very important in maintaining a youthful appearance in many parts of your body. Fat in the face keeps your appearance full and youthful, and your skin tight. As you age this fat breaks down and your face begins to look hollow and gaunt. By using fat grafting, we are able to take fat from other parts of your body and place it in your face, reversing the effects of time. Fat can also be grafted into the breasts for augmentation or to treat unevenness, injected into the tear troughs to mask shadowing (tear trough deformity) and improve the appearance of undereye bags, used to augment and lift the buttocks (Brazilian Butt Lift), or placed in the hands to hide the tendons and veins which are uncovered by lipoatrophy from aging.
The advantage of using fat over a synthetic facial filler is that the results can be permanent. Many patients like the idea of having a natural filler, your own fat, rather than a synthetic material. Additionally, there is usually a bountiful supply of fat making this more cost effective than synthetic fillers for large scale filling. These reasons make fat grafting a popular procedure for treating the effects of aging. The harvesting of fat from other parts of your body requires liposuction, so it is very common to combine liposculpture with fat grafting.
Because this procedure takes years of experience to perfect, Changes is one of only a handful of practices in San Diego to offer fat grafting to the face, hands, breasts, and buttocks. Dr. Lee has refined his technique to provide excellent and natural-looking results.
Fat Grafting Photos
These patient photos were taken in San Diego who had a fat grafting procedure at Changes Plastic Surgery. Please visit our photo gallery of other fat grafting procedures performed by Dr. Lee.
44 year old female who was concerned about undereye bags. She received fat grafting to tear troughs.
BEFORE
AFTER
Dr. Gilbert Lee is a triple board-certified plastic surgeon, who has been voted by the San Diego Medical Society "Top Doctor" for the past 5 years running. Read more about Dr. Lee's qualifications on his CV.
To determine if fat grafting is the best option for you, schedule a consultation.Determining Your Candidacy
Any man or woman who has seen a loss of fullness in the face is a candidate for fat grafting. You must be of a positive mindset, a stable weight and have large enough fat pockets on your body to harvest fat from. You should also be in good health. Any pre-existing medical conditions should be reported at the time of your consult.
Procedure Description
Lee is a triple board-certified plastic surgeon with extensive experience in fat grafting to the face and body. Fat grafting can be performed under local anesthesia in the office. For more extensive fat grafting, the procedures are performed in a state licensed and Medicare certified surgical center, along with skilled anesthesiologists. These credentials help ensure the highest standards of care and your utmost safety.
Fat grafting is done in two steps, performed at the same setting: fat harvesting and fat grafting. During the first step, your doctor will perform liposuction on a predetermined area to obtain a required volume of fat. This must be done gently so as to minimize damage to the fat grafts. The fat is then processed and purified to prepare it for re-injection. The second step is the injection of the fat into the face or other recipient site. Your doctor will mark your face ahead of time to fill specific areas. Because about 50% of the injected fat will be reabsorbed by your body, the doctor will slightly “overfill” you. This overfilling ensures that after your body has absorbed a portion of the fat, the permanent fat that is remaining gives the desired amount of correction. If necessary, additional fat can be injected at a later date to add more volume.
Post-surgical care
Following your procedure, you will be asked to cleanse your face twice a day with a mild cleanser, such as the Changes Ultra Soothing Cleanser. Then apply a moisturizer twice a day, such as the Changes Rescue Post-Treatment Cream. Cold water compresses can help reduce swelling. However, we recommend avoiding ice packs or heat packs both of which may damage the grafted fat cells.
You should keep your head elevated on 3 pillows when in bed to reduce swelling in your face.
Recovery
Your face will be quite swollen and bruised for approximately 2 weeks following a fat grafting. During the third and fourth weeks, your face will return toward normal, with the nice youthful appearance of fat remaining. The swelling associated with fat injections is more intense than with synthetic fillers, so adequate time off of work is essential following this procedure.
Your new look
Once you have reached the fourth week of recovery, the vast majority of your swelling will be gone. Your new fat will give a nice youthful appearance to your face. The final maturation of the fat grafts takes about 3 to 4 months. By then, most of the resorption of the fat has taken place, and you can feel confident that the remaining fat will stay in your face indefinitely.
If you are ready to schedule a consultation with Dr. Lee, contact us today.
