Everyone’s wished at some point that they could take unwanted fat from one part of their body and use it to punch up another that needed a little help. With the miracle of modern medicine, you can now do just that with a cosmetic fat transfer.
Fat transfer, also known as fat grafting or injection, is a procedure where fat is taken from one area of the body, such as the thighs or buttocks that have ample fat reserves and transfer it to another area where fat stores are lacking, such as on the face or hand areas. Hollow cheeks, creases around your mouth and nose, wrinkles in your neck or a diminished jawline can all be corrected with this procedure, creating a more youthful appearance. Acne scars, sunken eyes and other unwanted facial depressions can also be corrected.
This cosmetic procedure is great for correcting creases and sunken areas of the face. It provides a permanent solution as opposed to temporary filler procedures such as Botox. When wishing to re-shape body contours, fix scars, take years off hands and face or fill in sunken body areas, fat transfer provides a safe solution. The process is highly successful in restoring a person’s confidence while regaining the body contour once enjoyed in earlier years. Used in conjunction with breast reconstruction, fat transfer helps to reshape the breasts allowing a more symmetric appearance or camouflage more noticeable breast implants. Fat transfer is excellent for giving extra volume to hands, hiding blood vessels and tendons that tend to appear as hands age.
For those who lack a positive body image, experience flaws such as deep facial creases, acne scarring, obvious sunken areas around the lips, eyes or cheeks and have ample stores of fat for use as fillers such as from the thigh area, then fat transfers would be a good choice. If you would like slightly larger, natural looking breasts, fat transfer is the answer. Candidates need to have good circulation and ample fat reserves.
Fat transfer performed by a board certified cosmetic surgeon is a great choice when looking to make minor tweaks to contour the body, giving a more youthful appearance with the added benefit of a more positive self-image to the patient.
The first step to being a good candidate for a fat transfer surgery is a realistic expectation of the surgical outcome. It is very important that you understand what the procedure can do for you and what it cannot.
Your surgeon is not likely to move forward with the surgery if he feels that you have unrealistic expectations. Good candidates for this procedure also include those who:
Don’t smoke or have circulatory problems
Are generally in good health
Have adequate donor fat
Your cosmetic surgeon will make a small incision in your skin and drain fat from areas in your face where it is not needed. This will be done with a specially designed cannula to help the cells survive the transfer process and minimize tissue damage in the surrounding area.
The fat is then run through a centrifuge to separate useful fat cells from liquids and oils. After separation,the pure fat cells are injected back into your skin in areas that need a little plumping up.
This is done with a very small needle that leaves such a small wound it will not need stitches. The donor site, however, will be surgically closed.
