Fat Transfer (Fat Grafting)
Content
Description
Fat grafting (fat transfer or lipofilling) is a procedure for body-shaping using your own fat from areas with excess fat (stomach, thighs, hips) by injecting it into areas with a lack of volume (e.g. breasts, buttock, old scars, face, hand).
Facts
- General anesthesia
- One-day surgery
- Procedure takes 90 minutes
- Recovery after 7 days
Fat tissue has several advantages: it is easily accessible directly under the skin, it contains not only fat cells but also stem cells and it is your body's own tissue, so there is no need to use implants or foreign tissues.
Fat grafting can be described as a three-step procedure:
- Harvesting
- Refinement and transfer
- Placement
Harvesting - fat removal using cannulas - the same procedure as for liposuction. The best donor areas are: stomach, inner thighs, hips.
Refinement - the obtained fat must be purified so that it is finely and evenly distributed. Several techniques are used e.g.: filtration, centrifugation, homogenization and others.
Placement - fat cells are placed in syringes and injected into the desired areas of the body:
- Breast augmentation and reconstruction
- Lip enhancement
- Face rejuvenation (deep wrinkles and folds)
- Hand rejuvenation
- Scars with missing tissue volume
- Buttock augmentation
- Penis enlargement
The fat cells must heal in after being transferred. However, part of the fat is absorbed back (up to 30% of the volume), therefore the desired areas must be overcorrected. To correct all irregularities, the procedure must be repeated in several sessions (2 to 3 times).
After the operation bruises and swelling occur for 1 week in both areas (donor area and recipient area).
- Leakage of fluids that were used for fat harvesting may occur over the next 2 days.
- A compression garment (to shrink the skin) is worn for next 2 - 6 weeks at the recipient sites.
Full recovery is after 7 days and depends on the amount of harvested fat (one or more donor areas) and extend of tissue enlargement.
