Fat is a natural, soft, supple tissue that happens to be ubiquitous! The lovely thing about using your own fat to shape and sculpt your body is that we can take it away from areas you desire removal with liposuction, and then we can restore volume to deflated areas (the face, the breasts, the buttock, and other areas). Fat grafting can be performed alone or as a part of another procedure, such as facelift, breast reconstruction, mommy makeover or butt lift, among others.
How is fat grafting performed?
Dr. Tannan will identify your donor sites, or the areas we do liposuction to remove unwanted fat deposits and then redistribute them to areas where they can rejuvenate you. Fat is therapeutic! Interestingly there are stem cells in fat which can help heal tissues and rejuvenate the skin in ways that other tissue or products cannot quite compare. There is a profound effect on the overlying skin. Check out some of Dr. Tannan’s research on fat grafting here.
What is recovery like after fat transfer to the face, breast or buttock?
Fat transfer, fat grafting, fat injections will have a recovery time very specific to the areas treated. When we perform facial fat transfer at the time of a facelift procedure the fat grafting does not change the recovery time in any way. The most common area treated with liposuction is the tummy area, and when we remove the fat we recommend a compression garment for 2-4 weeks depending on the volume of fat we remove.
Fat transfer to the breast has a similar recovery about 2 weeks or so, especially when combined with other breast procedures such as breast reconstruction, or mastopexy, or during a mommy makeover. Fat transfer for buttock augmentation has a 4-6 week recovery period.