Fat Grafting

A. Swelling may last 1-2 weeks, with most patients looking natural within 2-4 weeks.

A. Grafted fat cells are semi-permanent. Typically 50-70% of transferred fat survives.

A. Fillers are quick but absorbed in 6 months to 2 years. Fat grafting uses your own tissue for natural, semi-permanent results.

A. At Pretty Body and Line Clinic, we perform it on the forehead, temples, under the eyes, the upper eyelids, the cheeks, the nasolabial folds and the chin. These are the areas that lose volume with age. It is rare for the face to lose volume in only one spot, so filling only the hollow area can instead make the step up to the neighboring area more noticeable. In the consultation we therefore look at the contours of your face and first decide the distribution, how much goes where. Areas with thin skin such as under the eyes show even a small difference in depth, so we plan those separately from the rest.

A. At Pretty Body and Line Clinic, we harvest from places where the fat layer is thick and the site is less noticeable afterwards, such as the abdomen or the inner thigh. Where to harvest is decided by looking at the volume to be grafted, the thickness of the fat layer there, and a position that will not leave a scar. Harvested fat is not injected as it is. It goes through a purification step that filters out blood and free oil so that only good fat tissue remains. If the harvested volume is not large, the contour does not change the way it does with liposuction. If you also want the contour shaped, we plan liposuction alongside it.

A. When transferred fat cells receive a blood supply and establish themselves in their new location, this is called graft take. Fat that does not establish itself is absorbed by the body and disappears, so the volume immediately after surgery is not the final result. For this reason the volume usually looks slightly larger than desired right after grafting, and it settles over about 1 month. This is also why we look at the final state afterwards and plan an additional graft if needed.

A. Yes, at Pretty Body and Line Clinic we often perform them together. Fat for grafting has to be harvested from the body anyway, so if there is a separate area you want reduced, harvesting from there handles both at once. The volume to suction and the volume to graft are decided by different criteria, however, because suction follows the contour while grafting follows the volume that needs filling. The operating time and anesthesia time are also recalculated for the two procedures combined, so we plan them together in the consultation.

A. It depends on the area and the volume needed. Injecting a large volume into one spot at once makes it harder for blood to reach the center, which can work against graft take, so we use a method of injecting small amounts spread across several layers. When a large volume is needed, we sometimes recommend watching the result and grafting again rather than finishing in one session. How many sessions it takes is not set from the beginning. It is decided by how well the first graft establishes itself.

A. Body fat grafting at Pretty Body and Line Clinic means the buttocks and the chest. The biggest difference from the face is that the volume of fat required is incomparably larger. The harvest area therefore has to be set broadly, and harvesting and grafting effectively become an operation on the scale of liposuction. The layer of injection also differs. On the face we divide the injection finely all the way to the shallow layers, but on the body the surrounding tissue is thick, so we choose a position and depth that keep the grafted fat from being compressed. Avoiding weight on the area during recovery also matters, so for buttock grafting we give separate guidance on sleeping position.

A. At Pretty Body and Line Clinic, the director, who is a board-certified anesthesiologist, handles both the procedure and the anesthesia. The anesthesia plan is therefore made while deciding the harvest volume and the grafting range. Even when a small amount is placed in one or two spots on the face, it is done under sedation. It is relatively simpler than body fat grafting and the recovery time is shorter.