A youthful appearance is one that looks smooth, toned, and glowing with sufficient tissue volume. Often one of the first signs of aging is hollowing and sagging due to loss of volume. Fat grafting or fat transfer is a surgical procedure that transfers fat from one area of your body to another to replenish volume loss. The goal is to restore youthful contours of the body with volume depletion, improve irregularities, or enhance existing shapes.
Common areas where the fat is harvested from include the hips, abdomen, and thighs which not only serves as the source of fat, but also reduces fat and improves contour of the harvest site. Common areas of fat transfer include multiple regions of the face, such as cheeks, lips, around the eyes, jawline, temples, forehead as well as areas of the body, such as the hands, breasts, and buttocks.
Generally healthy, nonsmoking individuals who want natural volume enhancement for facial rejuvenation or body contouring. Patients must have realistic expectations and sufficient fat to achieve the desired goals. Our Wave Plastic Surgeons will first perform a comprehensive consultation and determine if you are an appropriate candidate for this procedure. A customized treatment plan will then be discussed and explained in detail.
Some common reasons to consider fat transfer include:
Both synthetic fillers and fat injections can be used to address facial volume loss and contour enhancement. However, there are some distinct advantages of fat transfer. Fat transfer produce results that are safe with minimal risks and provide natural and long-lasting results.
Although allergic reactions to fillers are rare occurrences, fat comes from your own body and therefore fat transfer inherently has less risk for developing an allergic reaction. Some potential disadvantages of fat transfer, include increased cost, longer procedure time, and the possibility of needing touch up procedures if not enough fat cells survive.
Give us a call today to schedule a consultation with one of the plastic surgery experts at Wave Plastic Surgery to learn more about the procedure and the thread face lift cost.
At Wave Plastic Surgery, our highly experienced plastic surgeons use the latest surgical techniques to ensure the best outcomes. Our advanced three-stage method consistently produces natural and youthful appearing results. Fat transfer can be done under local anesthesia with light sedation or general anesthesia if combined with other plastic surgery procedures. The duration of the fat grafting surgery depends on the amount of fat needed to be transferred.
The first step involves harvesting the fat via liposuction. During your initial consultation, our surgeons will predetermine which area of your body will provide the best site for fat removal. Local anesthesia is first infiltrated into the tissue. Using sterile technique, a tiny incision is made on the skin of the harvest site, and a thin cannula attached to a syringe is inserted to gently suction out the fat cells. The incision is then meticulously closed with small sutures.
After collecting adequate fat cells, an advanced purification process begins. Using cutting edge filtration techniques, the fat cells are purified to the highest quality and then transferred into small, individual syringes for injection. At WAVE Plastic Surgery, we can enhance purified fat with Plasma Rich Plasma (PRP) to increase fat cell survivability and ensure the best possible outcomes.
By fully analyzing the recipient regions of the face or body, our surgeons know exactly the amount of fat to inject as well as how to evenly distribute the fat to ensure results that are smooth, seamless, and natural. The fat is then transferred in multiple micro aliquots until the desired contour is achieved with the utmost precision.
Most patients tolerate the fat grafting procedure well with minimal pain. This discomfort can be controlled with pain medication if needed. Incisions and treated areas must be kept clean during the recovery process. Patients will return to the clinic one week after the procedure to evaluate the fat harvest and donor sites and remove any sutures. Most swelling and bruising that occurs will resolve within the first two to three weeks.
We advise patients to refrain from strenuous activity for the first two weeks as well as avoid the consumption of salty foods that can exacerbate and prolong swelling. Sometimes residual swelling can continue for up to three months in duration. Every patient has a different recovery experience which also depends on the volume of fat that is transferred.
Patients will notice immediate results that will continue to improve during the recovery process as the swelling resolves and the survival of the fat cells has been determined. By 6 months after surgery, patients should have achieved full recovery, displaying a natural, refreshed, and youthful appearance that will last for many years to come.
Give us a call today to schedule your consultation with one of our plastic surgeons at Wave Plastic Surgery.
Dr. Peter is CEO and Chief Surgeon of WAVE Plastic Surgery Center with over 20 years of plastic surgery experience, overlooking 30K+ successful plastic surgery cases. He has mentored master surgeons around the world in state-of-the-art techniques, and has been inducted into the RealSelf 100 & 500 Hall of Fame.
His many accolades and shining results are evidence of Peter’s expertise.
Dr. Wong has a special interest in non-surgical and minimally invasive aesthetic procedures. Dr. Wong is committed to providing patients with the most advanced treatments available to ensure a desired aesthetic outcome.
She has been an invited speaker to international lectures, authored several publications, and actively teaches at the University of California, San Francisco. Her sincere passion in teaching translates to educating her patients, ultimately lending to quality patient care and results.
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