According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), liposuction is the most commonly-performed plastic surgery in America. But what happens to all the fat that is removed after those procedures are finished? The truth is, a lot of the time the fat is just thrown away as medical waste. While you may not think that sounds like a big deal, the fat that is removed during liposuction is often referred to as “liquid gold” by surgeons due to its amazing ability to rejuvenate other parts of the body. Allow me to explain.
Fat transfer injections take fat removed from areas of the body during liposuction and inject it back into other areas of the body that may be lacking in volume like the face, breasts or buttocks. The fat transfer procedure is generally a very safe way to provide natural, long-lasting results to areas all over the body. Patients are quickly catching on to this phenomenon, as evidenced by the considerable increase in fat transfer procedures I have personally witnessed over the past several years.
Fat transfer can be a terrific, noninvasive method for patients seeking facial rejuvenation. Whether you are concerned about facial creases like smile lines and crow’s-feet or sunken areas around the lips and cheeks, fat transfer injections can provide a significant aesthetic improvement. Fat transfer injections for the face are able to create an effect similar to facial fillers, but with the added perk of results that can least for years.
Breast augmentation with fat transfer involves injecting the previously removed fat into a patient’s breasts to create a more subtle, natural-looking increase in breast size. With smaller, more modest breasts becoming more fashionable recently, it’s no surprise that fat transfer injections to the breast experienced a massive 41% increase in popularity last year according to ASAPS statistics for 2016.
Fat transfer can also be used as supplement for breast reconstruction procedures by filling in irregularities like lumps or hiding obvious signs of breast implants for women who have undergone mastectomies to treat breast cancer.
If you are considering fat transfer, it’s important to bring this up with your surgeon during your liposuction consultation. During a consultation, I am able to determine if a patient has the necessary amount of fat in donor sites required for fat transfer. I have personally developed a unique method for fat transfer that removes fat from a patient’s body using suction, process it and places it in another area of the body in a matter of just a few minutes. For more information or to schedule your plastic surgery consultation, please contact Dr. David Whiteman at Southern Plastic Surgery today. You can also follow along with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ for more plastic surgery tips and updates.