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Fat Transfer

What Does It Mean to Undergo Fat Transfer?

Fat transfer combines two beneficial enhancement procedures in one. Fat is harvested from troublesome areas such as the abdomen, hips, thighs, and back. It is then purified and injected into another area to produce subtle, natural enhancement.

The Benefits of Fat Transfer

  • Eliminates unwanted fat deposits
  • Provides natural enhancement for the breasts, buttocks, face or hands
  • Low downtime and recovery
  • No large incisions or cutting

Areas Used To Harvest Fat

Abdomen, hips, thighs and back

  • Fat is most commonly harvested by way of liposuction from around the abdomen, but it may also be removed from the hips, thighs, and back
  • Gentle, fat-preserving liposuction techniques are used to harvest fat
  • Eliminating fat from the abdomen, hips, thighs and back can help slim and tone the overall appearance of the body and enhance the fat transfer results

Areas Treated With Fat Transfer

Hands

  • Fat is injected into the upper back of the hands and middle joints of the fingers,
  • Replenishes the loss of skin thickness and emptiness in the hands
  • Provides long term rejuvenation to bony and wrinkled hands
  • Reduces the look of veiny thin aging hands
  • Fat injected into the hands offers an added bonus benefit by improving on the quality of the skin
  • Fat rejuvenation of the hands also produces an improvement in skin color and wrinkle reduction
  • A great treatment for patients with burns on the hands, releasing scars and tightness
  • Results are long term and recovery is fast

Breasts

  • Fat is injected into the breasts to increase the size and reshape the breasts
  • Also called Natural Breast Augmentation
  • Provides a modest size increase for women who are looking for a slight increase in breast size
  • Ideal for patients who don’t desire synthetic implants
  • Can be staged for a larger cup size
  • Placement of the harvested fat in the different quadrants of the breast allows more control of the final shape of the breast.
  • Often used in conjunction with breast reconstruction to help achieve a better, more natural breast shape

Face

  • Fat is injected into the hollows of the face, including the cheeks and under eyes
  • Corrects age-related facial volume loss, wrinkles, laugh line and cheekbones
  • Often called “liquid gold” due to the stem cell benefits present in the aspirated fat
  • Offers an no scar no incision low downtime facial rejuvenation
  • Using your own fat to restore facial aging provides long-lasting volume when compared to synthetic facial fillers
  • Clinically proven improvement in skin texture and tone

Buttocks

  • Fat is grafted in even layers to enhance the size and reshape the buttocks
  • Most commonly known as “Brazilian Butt Lift” of BBL
  • Provides a more natural appearing buttock profile than silicone implants
  • Achieves the size increase that patients desire without the extended recovery period
  • Injected into target areas of the buttock offers not only an augmented look but a lifting effect to the entire buttocks
  • When harvesting fat for grafting into the buttocks with liposuction from specific areas, such as the waist, flanks and banana rolls, the results are a sculptured body and a whole body transformation

FAQ

Q: What type of anesthesia is used during fat transfer?

A: Fat transfer can be performed using local anesthesia. However, depending on the extent of liposuction and the different sites of fat removal, general anesthesia may be used to ensure patient comfort.

Q: Will there be scars after my fat transfer?

A: Tiny incisions are made at the liposuction site and the injection site that may result in minimally visible scars that will fade over time. The advantage of fat transfer surgery, whether into the hands, face, breast of buttocks is the lack of cutting and big incisions and scars.

Q: How long will my recovery period last?

A: The length of your recovery will depend on which area(s) have been enhanced using fat transfer. Fat transfer to the face has the fastest healing time of two weeks. Fat grafting to the buttocks has the longest recovery period of several months. During your consultation with Dr. Walker,  she can discuss more accurate recovery timelines based on your individual circumstances.

Q: Are the results of fat transfer long lasting?

A: There may be some initial volume loss after your fat transfer as the body absorbs some of the grafted fat. However, any fat that remains after six months will provide permanent enhancement.

Q: How much fat do I need to have?

A: There is no weight requirement for having fat grafting procedure. Fat transfer to the face and hands does not require a large amount of harvested fat to be injected. However,  Natural Breast Augmentation as well as Brazilian Butt Lift  require “spare” fat harvested from multiple areas of liposuction to achieve enough injections and a satisfactory result. A patient with extremely slender body will have too subtle of a result and may not be a good candidate for breast and buttocks augmentation.