Facial Fat Grafting
Rejuvenate your face to reveal your youth and radiance
About Facial Fat Grafting
A youthful, feminine face is softer and more rounded than other faces. As we age, our faces lose volume while our skin wrinkles and begins to sag. Facial fat grafting can restore volume, fill out wrinkles, and rejuvenate the facial skin. This procedure takes years off your face while enhancing your femininity.
What is Facial Fat Grafting?
Facial fat grafting, also known as a fat transfer to the face, fat transfer injections, or fat fillers, is the process of removing fat from one area of the body and injecting it into the face. Facial fat grafting is a rejuvenating procedure. As we age, our faces lose volume and gain wrinkles. Facial fat grafting helps fill out the face and create a more youthful appearance by combating hollow cheeks, sunken eyes, and wrinkles.
It is also frequently done in the course of facial feminization surgery. Genetic females have softer, fuller faces than males. Facial fat grafting can help smooth out a masculine face and give it plumper cheeks and lips.
How It’s Done
Fat is harvested from another part of the body using traditional liposuction. The fat can be taken from any area of the body that has extra fat deposits. Dr. Zukowski typically uses the abdomen or the upper thighs.
The fat is then spun in a centrifuge to separate the bioactive fat from the oils. Once the fat has been purified to obtain only whole, undamaged fat cells, it is injected into strategic areas on the face with a needle. Because the fat is yours and because it’s a natural, bioactive material, it will incorporate seamlessly to become a living part of the new site.
Most commonly, fat grafting is used on the cheeks, lips, under the eyes, and in the nasolabial folds (the laugh lines that run between the nose and the lip).
Benefits
Facial fat grafting is a safe, effective procedure with many benefits:
- Noninvasive: The fat is injected and no incisions are made, making this an extremely safe, noninvasive procedure.
- Natural: The fat is a safe, organic filler harvested from your own body.
- No scarring: Since everything is done through injections, you will not have any scars from facial fat grafting.
- Best results: Facial fat grafting gives youthful volume to your face in a way that looks completely natural.
- Long-lasting: This procedure lasts much longer than dermal fillers because it actually restores lost volume.
- Rejuvenating: Fat taken from your own body has the added benefit of containing stem cells, which replace and repair surrounding cells. This means that in addition to filling out your face, your fat rejuvenates the skin around it for an even more youthful appearance.
Ideal Candidates
Patients who have facial wrinkles, hollow cheeks, sunken eyes, or other creases or sunken areas of the face are good candidates for facial fat grafting. It is important that candidates for facial fat grafting do not have problems with blood circulation.
Fat Transfer Risks and Side Effects
You may experience a moderate amount of swelling or bruising after your facial fat transfer, but this does not happen to all patients. In rare cases, patients may experience a small area of firmness. Massage or scar injections will make this go away.
Dangers of Silicone Injections to the Face
Facial fat grafting is a safe, natural alternative to artificial fillers. Silicone fillers in particular are very dangerous and should never be injected into the soft tissue of your face and body. The FDA put out an official statement in 2017 on injectable silicone, warning that “injectable silicone can move throughout the body and cause serious health consequences, including death.” Silicone stays in your body long term and can cause problems years after injection. Dr. Zukowski does not use silicone fillers in his procedures.
How Long Does Facial Fat Grafting Last?
Facial fat grafting is long-lasting, but any injection site will lose a percentage of the fat injected. No matter where the fat is injected, it is expected that some of it will reabsorb. Dr. Zukowski keeps this in mind and overcompensates for this anticipated reabsorption. Fat survives best when placed with other fat, so fat injections into the cheeks will typically lose only 35% volume. Fat injected into areas that are more muscular and are always moving – such as the temple soft tissue, lips, and the nasolabial folds (laugh lines that run between the nose and the lip) – is expected to reabsorb by up to 55%.
Dr. Zukowski offers a secondary fat graft to his patients at no extra charge. This can be done once the first fat graft has had time to settle; this normally occurs 9-14 months following their first fat grafting procedure. Secondary fat grafting does not require as much fat since there is already fat present from your first injection, and the percentage of fat lost is typically lower than the first time.
Dr. Zukowski uses facial fat grafting like an artist to sculpt your face according to your vision.
If you have any questions or concerns about facial fat transfer please don’t hesitate to contact our office in Chicago to learn more.
Visit the patient gallery to see before and after transformations.