While aging is natural and happens to everyone, there are now effective ways to counteract its effects and keep you feeling confident in your appearance. Fat grafting is a safe and non-surgical method that can naturally bring a gaunt or hollow face back to life. As we age, our cheek tissue will shift and lose its original tone and volume, but with the help of a successful plastic surgeon, fat grafting has proven to reverse these effects.
What is Fat Grafting?
Due to its natural and effective results, fat grafting is becoming more and more popular. This process removes fat from a donor site and injects it into another. It is also commonly known as “fat transfer.”
The patient and surgeon will discuss which area of the patient’s body is best suited to be the donor (most patients have enough excess fat for this procedure). Once the fat is extracted, it is then prepared and purified using PureGraft technology before being injected into the desired area. During the process, there may be short-term discomfort, but pain is typically minimal.
Ideal Candidate for Fat Grafting
The ideal candidate for this procedure has sunken cheeks, eyelid bags, jowling, thinning features, or general aging in the face.
Why Use Fat?
Using the patient’s own fat vastly reduces the risks of allergic reaction and infection. Fat is also rich in stem cells which can further help rejuvenate the treated skin. Patients also see results almost immediately and its effects last significantly longer than any other type of injection.
Post-Procedure
After the actual procedure, a patient will experience minor swelling and/or bruising in both the injection and donor sites. A patient can expect the swelling to reduce after a few days and pain can be managed with medication. Your surgeon will provide you with direct care instructions to follow post-procedure. It is imperative that you follow these guidelines to increase your chances of a great recovery. It is normal for patients to get back to their regular routine not too long following their procedure. This is another great benefit of fat grafting as it allows for a very quick recovery time and quick results.
Benefits and Risks
One of the benefits of this procedure is that you don’t have to worry about rejecting the filler because it is already naturally a part of your own body. Because of this reason, your results will also last longer than those of synthetic injections. Additionally, fat is extremely versatile and can be used to treat anything from scars to deep lines in the skin.
Cosmetic procedures and surgeries are very much dependent upon the individual and everyone will have a different experience with the same treatment. At worst, patients may encounter soreness and swelling which lessens quickly over the next couple of days following the procedure. In extreme and rare cases, small lumps have formed under the skin due to a ruptured blood vessel. In addition, a patient might also experience a faster fat absorption which would lead to more fat grafting procedures.
It’s important to remember that each surgeon uses different techniques. Therefore, a consultation and conversation with your surgeon is the best way to determine what results you can expect.
If you are interested in the fat grafting procedure, you can schedule a private consultation with Dr. Slupchynskyj. During your initial meeting, he will provide you with all the information you need to decide whether fat grafting is the right procedure for you.
To schedule your consultation, call (212) 628-6464!