About Face Fat Grafting
Body fat is excellent filler for soft tissue. Fat injection (also called autologous fat grafting) consists of a fat transfer part of the body to another body part. In the face is used to reduce frown lines, nasolabial folds (smile lines), enhance the lips and give better definition to areas like the cheeks and chin. Also, can be used to fill depressed scars or depressed in any area of the body. Sometimes the fat used to augment or fill in the buttocks. Fat injection is not permanent, and it is very likely to require re-injected in the future.
Technique:
The donor (e.g., abdomen, buttocks, or thighs), and the treatment site are injected with local anesthesia. A special solution is injected into the donor site to facilitate the collection of fat. Fat cells are extracted through a small needle with a syringe. The fat is then processed to remove excess fluids and reinjected with another needle in the desired area. Generally, it fills a little more than necessary, because the fat absorption during the first weeks after treatment. The fat also may be taken during a lipoplasty (liposuction), in any area of the body, and then reinjected into another area.
Advantage:
- It is a natural filler does not cause allergies or rejection.
- Outpatient procedure that generally takes less than an hour.
- Injections may last from several months to be permanent.
- Requires little or none inactivity.
- Minimal discomfort, which can be controlled with medication.
- The patient’s body fat, does not require a test before, and the fat is not rejected.
Other considerations:
The duration of results may vary significantly from patient to patient.
It is common for some swelling and bruising in the first 2-3 days.
The patient should avoid the sun for 3 weeks.
Not every area is suitable for injection of fat. Injecting fat into a breast, for example, makes cancer detection difficult by mammography, and is strongly condemned by the scientific community.
The fat keeps longer when injected in relatively stationary areas, such as the cheeks and lips.
Risks:
As is the case with all cosmetic treatments, fat transfer involves risks (but mild) along with the benefits. The benefits of fat transfer through the injection well established, including the correction of the imperfections of the face and adding a volume with autologous material (i.e., the patient’s own body). It is important to consider the risks and benefits of fat transfer before choosing to undergo this procedure. The benefits discussed below, followed by a detailed description of the possible risks and complications of fat transfer.
Benefits of facial fat transfer
Fat injection as a cosmetic treatment is natural, versatile, durable and safe. Fat transfer has become a preferred method of facial volume increase for patients who are allergic to traditional dermal fillers such as collagen of bovine origin. One of the biggest benefits of increased volume through fat injection is that there is absolutely no chance of an adverse allergic reaction.
The fat transfer risks are few, rare and minimal. Pain and swelling are possible but are not experienced by each patient. The most important drawback of this procedure is that its face or lips can absorb all or most of the fat injection. The chances of this happening cannot be predicted for a given individual, but it happens in up to half of all patients who receive fat injection treatments.
The complications include an allergic reaction to local anesthesia, permanent discoloration caused by a ruptured blood vessel in the treatment site, calcification, a distorted look, if carried out overcorrection; perioperative bleeding, bruising, swelling, blood clot blood in the treatment or the donor site, infection, scar tissue and fat embolism caused by a wrongly-directed fat injection into a blood vessel.Being disappointed with the results of a fat transfer procedure could also be considered a “risk”. The placement of fat transfer may not be appropriate, the duration of the effect of fat injection may not be as long as you wish, or your face can not “take” fat transfer. Your face or lips may not be exactly as you expected.