Facial Fat Transfer

Facial fat transfer, also known as autologous fat grafting, is a cosmetic surgery procedure that involves harvesting fat from one area of the body and transferring it to the face. The goal is to restore lost volume, improve facial contouring, and achieve youthful facial rejuvenation. This technique can help enhance areas such as the cheeks, temples, lips, and nasolabial folds, contributing to a more vibrant appearance.

Patients also receive the added benefit of fat reduction in other body areas. As fat is removed in one place to supplement another, the donor site is contoured. Fat transfers are increasingly becoming the standard procedure for facial rejuvenation because of their fast healing time, low risk of complications, ready and abundant availability of filler material, and ease of procedure. ⁽¹⁾

At Southern Surgical Arts, our goal is to provide patients with the most effective aesthetic options available in the South. You deserve to look and feel your best, and our team of expert doctors and talented specialists have decades of combined experience to give you the best outcome possible. Schedule a consultation to plan your facial fat transfer today and begin the path to rejuvenation. If you prefer to speak to someone directly or have any further questions, please feel free to call any of our Georgia or Tennessee offices at (800) 950-0492.

About Facial Fat Transfer

Enhancing the natural beauty of the face and creating a youthful appearance is the main purpose of facial cosmetic surgery. Whether by aging or enduring structural changes over time, a person’s unique facial composition can evolve into an unsatisfying appearance. As we age, the facial volume decreases in all areas of the face; slightly in some and significantly in others. The deflation of the face contributes to an aged look, and adding volume is key to creating a naturally youthful appearance. Facial fat transfers have shown tremendous success in “reinflating” the face to create this desired youthful appearance.

Unlike implants or injectable compounds like Botox, supplementing the face with autologous body fat does not elicit a reaction from the immune system. Doctors worldwide are beginning to support the use of autologous fat in reconstruction and rejuvenation procedures because of its biocompatibility. ⁽¹⁾ Features like sunken eyes and cheeks, wrinkles, fine lines, and more are smoothed out with the added mass below the skin. These transfers have also shown to be effective at treating “Ozempic face,” the condition of pseudo-aging in the face due to rapid weight loss with GLP-1 medications.

Benefits

Facial fat transfers are effective at treating a wide range of conditions and provide dozens of benefits.

Fast Recovery

Because fat transfers use the patient’s own tissue, the immune system does not recognize the filler as a foreign entity that it has to fight. Instead, the body shifts its focus toward healing the incisions at the donor site and accepting the repositioned fat. Although some recovery period is recommended, patients do not have to pause their daily routines for more than a few days.

Customizability

By working closely with the surgeons at SSA, you can meticulously plan your ideal fat transfer and pinpoint exactly where and how much fat should be injected.

Fat Relocation

Adding fat to one part of the body means reducing it in others. While this is minimal in some cases, patients do get to experience the added benefit of removing fat from the donor site and crafting a slimmer silhouette.

Increased Confidence

It is hard to live your happiest life and feel like your best self when your appearance does not reflect it. Fat transfers are an easy way to adjust your appearance to match your ideal look and give you the confidence you have been missing.

Minimally Invasive Procedure

The most invasive part of a fat transfer is the fat harvesting stage, and this is already one of the least invasive procedures in medicine. This means less risk of infection or complication and less pain in the long run.

Long-Term Results

As fat is transferred into the face, the body will incorporate it into the surrounding tissue. While this new fat is still susceptible to the effects of aging, the added mass will give you a youthful appearance for many years.

Candidates

Personal Consultation

The sooner you schedule your consultation, the sooner you can start your new life with a youthful look. At your appointment, you will discuss your motivations behind pursuing a facial fat transfer and identify the corrections you want to make. Whether you have a loose idea or a detailed, specific plan of what you want to achieve, the collaboration you will have with our experts will result in a specialized plan to achieve your desired appearance.

You can also expect to review your general medical history at this appointment. While it is not essential to the procedure, our staff want to eliminate any loose ends to ensure that your procedure goes smoothly with no complications.

Procedure

Each patient’s procedure will be different, so some of the methods employed will differ slightly to achieve optimal results. However, all facial fat transfers follow these three steps:

Fat Harvesting

Once your procedure begins, the first step taken will be harvesting the fat. Various methods like vacuum or syringe liposuction or surgical removal may be employed to acquire the tissue. Subcutaneous fat is free of debris and excess blood and full of healthy cells, so this will be targeted. ⁽²⁾ Common donor sites are the abdomen, thighs, and buttocks. After making the initial incisions, your SSA surgeon will inject a tumescent solution into the targeted site. This is normally a mixture of lidocaine and clotting agents to reduce pain and bleeding.

Fat Processing

Once the fat has been removed from the donor site, it is processed. Processing removes unnecessary compounds to ensure that only healthy adipose tissue is being transferred to the face. This is achieved in a few different ways, and it is common for fat to go through more than one of these methods. The first of these is sedimentation. This is the least violent of the methods, leaving the removed tissue alone to rest until the parts separate and then removing the fat. The next is filtration, where the removed tissue is sent through a filtering system to remove unnecessary materials. Another option is centrifugation. This method is functionally similar to sedimentation, except that it speeds up the process by rapidly spinning the tissue to separate its components. ⁽²⁾

Placement and Shaping

Once the filler fat has been isolated from other components, it will be pulled into syringes and prepared for injection. Your SSA surgeon will numb your face with local anesthetic and strategically inject the fat. The receiving sites will be planned during your consultation and preparatory appointments. Each syringe will have the amount of filler fat required for each injection site. It is possible that the placed fat can swell or lump underneath the skin as it is injected. Your surgeon will fix this by smoothing out the fat to sculpt your face to the planned specifications. Once all injections have been placed and you have been cleared, you will be released to begin your recovery.

Fat Transfer Recovery

Most patients experience redness, bruising, and swelling in their treatment sites for up to 6 weeks following their procedure.⁽³⁾ We recommend addressing this with medications and compression garments, but this will dissipate in due time. It is important to remember that your body will be healing two sites, not just one. Proper care is important to healing the grafting incisions and keeping them free from infection. Depending on the size of the incision, your SSA doctor may prescribe antibiotics, and these should be taken as instructed. While recovery will not be debilitating, we do recommend relaxing for a day or two before easing back into normal routines.

Results

Once your swelling has reduced, you will immediately notice a younger, fuller face with fewer wrinkles, tighter skin, and a brighter complexion.

Cost of Facial Fat Transfers in GA and TN

The price of our facial fat transfer procedures begins at around $3,000 and can go up to $5,000. Your all-inclusive quote will cover the surgeon’s fee, anesthesia costs, the facility fee for the operating room, and any supplies that may be needed. Post-operative visits are also included in the total price.

References

1. Vasavada A, Raggio BS. Autologous Fat Grafting For Facial Rejuvenation. PubMed. Published 2021. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557860/
2. Shauly O, Gould DJ, Ghavami A. Fat Grafting: Basic Science, Techniques, and Patient Management. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – Global Open. 2022;10(3):e3987. doi:https://doi.org/10.1097/gox.0000000000003987
3. Schultz KP, Raghuram A, Davis MJ, Abu-Ghname A, Chamata E, Rohrich RJ. Fat Grafting for Facial Rejuvenation. Seminars in Plastic Surgery. 2020;34(01):030-037. doi:https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-3402767