Facial fat grafting, also known as a fat transfer, is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that involves transferring excess fat cells from one part of your body to your face. The surgeon suctions away excess fat cells from a targeted donor site, such as the tummy, and injects it into the cheeks and temples, making your face look fuller and more voluminous. This procedure can correct age-related loss of facial volume, reduce midface sagging, and make your facial skin look more youthful.
Facial Fat Grafting
Goals of Facial Fat Grafting Include:
- Enhance facial volume and contours
- Reduce midface sagging
- Reduce nasolabial folds around the nose
- Reduce marionette lines around the mouth
- Make the facial skin look plumper and fuller
- Reduce excess fat cells from the donor site
How Facial Fat Grafting Works
The gradual loss of collagen, elastin, and fat from the cheeks, temples, and midface regions because of age leads to a sunken and gaunt appearance. As you lose facial volume from your cheeks, your midface tissues may also start sagging. Facial fat grafting involves harvesting excess fat cells from another part of the body (such as the tummy or lower back) and injecting it into the midface region. This procedure makes your face look fuller and reduces fullness from another region — dual benefits!
Benefits of Facial Fat Grafting:
- No foreign objects injected into the body
- Fat cells drawn from your body
- No risk of infections or allergic reactions
- Completely natural-looking results
- Reverses age-related loss of facial volume
- Ensures long-lasting results
Candidates for Facial Fat Grafting:
- Have sunken or gaunt cheeks and temples
- Want to restore facial volume and contours
- Have sufficient fat cells in the donor site, such as the tummy, thighs, or back
- Are in good physical and mental health
- Have realistic expectations from the procedure
- Are nonsmokers or willing to stop smoking before and after the procedure
- Can take around two weeks off work and other responsibilities to recover
Dr. Chiodo’s Facial Fat Grafting Technique
Dr. Chiodo performs a personalized facial fat grafting surgery after a thorough evaluation. He carefully examines your facial skin, determines the degree of laxity, reviews your health history, asks about your expectations, and identifies the potential donor sites in your body. He creates a comprehensive treatment map of your body, which involves marking the donor and injection sites. The surgery is performed under general anesthesia in our cutting-edge operating rooms.
Facial fat grafting surgery involves three steps: liposuction, purification, and injection. The surgeon makes a small incision on the donor site, such as the tummy or lower back. He drives a hollow cannula through the incision, suctions away excess fat deposits, purifies the fat cells, and carefully injects them into the targeted sites on your face, such as the cheeks and temples. We use a cannula for fat injections to ensure optimal precision.
Recovery After Facial Fat Grafting
After facial fat grafting, you can expect mild swelling, tenderness, bruising, and discomfort around the treatment areas for up to two weeks. You can resume most of your daily activities and work after one week, but you should avoid strenuous workouts for a few more weeks. Approximately 40% to 50% of the transferred fat cells will eventually get reabsorbed by your body, so the final results will appear gradually over six months.
Schedule an Appointment
Dr. Michael Chiodo is a plastic surgeon specializing in face, breast, and body procedures. He uses cutting-edge surgical techniques to address your unique cosmetic goals and expectations without risking unwanted complications or cosmetic results. He also believes in offering emotional support to his patients — he offers his personal number to all of his patients and their significant others. If you’re prepared to elevate your facial contours, please schedule an appointment with Dr. Chiodo today.
