Fat Transfer

Fat transfer, also called autologous fat transplantation or micro-lipoinjection, plumps up facial features with a patient’s own fat, and is a popular alternative to other wrinkle treatments. Fat transfer to the face is a safe, natural, non-allergenic procedure, designed to recontour your face, and can provide definition to your cheeks and chin. It can also be used to correct facial deformities. Because fat transfer uses your own fat cells, from your own body, you can never have an allergic reaction.

Problems That May Be Corrected by Fat Transfer

Fat transfer is often used to correct facial wrinkles and creases that begin to appear as you age and the underlying collagen and elastin fibers break down. While this breakdown is a natural result of aging, it can be accelerated by excessive squinting, frowning and smiling. Fat transfer is commonly used to treat the following conditions:

• Wrinkles and folds
• Sunken cheeks
• Atrophic aging of the hands
• Post-surgical and post-traumatic defects

How Fat Transfer Works

With fat transfer, it is possible to have fat liposuctioned from your abdomen for example, and then transferred to almost any area of your body. Reinjected fat lasts longer in larger areas of non-movement,but not all the fat transferred will survive and the results will vary somewhat from patient to patient. Sometimes repeat treatments will be necessary to obtain the optimal result. Also, not every area of the body responds well to fat transfer. The breasts for instance, are not appropriate. Injecting fat into the breast makes it much more difficult to detect breast cancer with mammograms.

Fat transfer is performed in our office on an outpatient basis. Both the area from which the fat is taken, and the treatment site, is anesthetized with a local anesthetic. Using a small needle attached to a syringe, fat is removed from a donor site, where the fat is most tightly packed, such as the abdomen or the buttocks.

Once removed, the fat is processed to remove excess fluids, and then re-injected using another needle, which is placed under the skin beneath the wrinkle. This process may be repeated until the desired correction has been achieved. Harvesting the fat cells for reinjection is often performed in conjunction with other procedures, such as liposuction, tummy tuck or cosmetic breast surgery.