Fat Transfer

When we age our underlying collagen and elastin begin to break down and wrinkles emerge. We also tend to lose subcutaneous fat in our faces. This brings about a haggard, hollow, or even skeletal look.

Fat transfer, also called lipo contouring, facial fat rejuvenation, fat grafting, free fat transfer, autologous fat grafting or transfer, micro-lipoinjection, and fat injections.  For simplicity, we call it fat transfer.

Fat transfer is the process of taking small amounts of fat from one part of the body and reimplanting it elsewhere, where it is needed.

Fat transfer can be done on almost all areas of the face and body. However, the most common treatment sites are the areas under the eyes, the tear troughs, the temples, the cheeks, the chin, the jaw line, the forehead, and the glabella (the area just above your nose in between the brows) and the lateral brow. Fat grafting can also be used to help fill in scars on the face.

It is minimally invasive and can help correct problems such as acne scars and restore a youthful look to an aging face.

As an injectable filler, your own fat is almost perfect. It is soft and feels natural, it does not cause immune problems, and virtually everyone already have some! The fat is harvested from some other spot on your body, such as you abdomen, and can be a by-product, if you will, of liposculpture.

The sites being treated must have good blood circulation and enough capillaries and larger blood vessels so that the small microdroplets of injected fat cells are nourished and can form their own blood supply. This is a key factor in getting the best and longest lasting results.

How Is Fat Grafting Performed?

This procedure involves both a donor site (where the fat is taken from- either the abdomen, lateral or medial thighs) and the treatment site (where it is being put). You may be given an oral sedative and receive injections of sterile saline, lidocaine, and  epinephrine.  If you are having liposculpture for body contouring and will be having some of that suctioned fat injected, you will probably receive intravenous sadation along with the local anesthesia. You can read more about liposculpture.

Although you might think one could just use a syringe to suck out the fat from one spot and use the same syringe to inject it where you want it, this is not done. The fat must be treated to remove blood, other fluid and any damaged fat cells. Whole, healthy fat cells are best for reimplantation. Dr Porcaro routinely uses a centrifuge  to remove  fluids and  damaged fat cells. This allows Dr Porcaro to transfer concentrated, pure fat, which optimizes the "take" of the fat cells . Concentrated fat (which looks like a yellowish liquid in the syringe) is then injected using small blunt tip fat transfer needles in areas marked before the procedure.

Most patients will typically need 2 or 3 treatments, which may be administered from 1-3 months apart.

The benefits of fat grafting can last for years!