Fat transfer has been successfully performed for the last 25-30 years. It has a long track record of success with proven permanent results. It has been documented that fat transfers do live through techniques used by many plastic surgeons. Fat transfer has fallen into more respect in recent years. In the past, many physicians and plastic surgeons believed that fat taken from one part of the body and put into another part of the body absorbed in its new location. Photographic documentation has shown this not to be the case, as a few examples have occurred in which a person having had fat transfer into the face gained a significant amount of weight, as much as 80-100 pounds. In locations where the fat transfer took place in the face, the area was actually overly protruding and did not look like a normal contour. These are rare exceptions but, in fact, it is advisable for a person who has had fat transfer not to gain large amounts of weight because the living fat cells that have been transferred into their face can, in fact, enlarge and potentially even distort the area where they are located.

Physicians doing fat transfer need to have experience in performing this procedure, which takes approximately one hour under local anesthesia and should be done in a clean, certified operating room facility. Many physicians who do cosmetic surgery are not equipped to do fat transfer because of the technical considerations and the sterility needed along with the one hour of operating time under local anesthesia. This is why fillers made by pharmaceutical companies have come into favor, in that they take only a few minutes to place into position and can be ordered directly in a sterile vial and injected to fill in soft tissue areas throughout the face; however, all of these are temporary and ultimately do absorb; therefore, in the long-term picture, they are much more expensive. However, fillers are favored by many physicians because they do require a far less degree of surgical skill and are ultimately absorbable, therefore, any over-correction would self-correct after several months. Any filler that is permanent, I feel, is potentially risky because it is a foreign body injected into the face, which could cause problems in the future. Many new fillers are coming into the market on an almost monthly basis. Many have not had a proven track record, and the consumer should be wary of having the newest and latest filler injected into the facial area.

Fat Transfer usually takes one to three sittings in order to increase the subcutaneous tissue where it is injected. Common areas for fat transfer are in the upper and lower lips, laugh lines, frown lines, and cheeks. Fat transfer is also used to fill in soft tissue defects from various traumatic injuries or possibly even cortisone injections that cause fat atrophy in the trunk or extremities. Fat transfer is highly successful. The only uncertainty is whether the end result can be accomplished in one, two, or three sittings. There is an absorption rat of anywhere from 20% to 60% of the fat that is transferred from, let