How Long is the Process of Fat Grafting to Breasts?

This question is posed to doctors who perform fat grafting to the breast. On average how long does the procedure take, and what is your average cost? Secondly why do some board certified plastic surgeons perform the procedure in less than two hours and others take six. What is the reason for the huge discrepancy? Thank you for your time Doctors!

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11 Doctor Answers | Asked by fakeit1

Doctor Answers (11)
Community Comments (1)

Fat Transfer or Fat Grafting for Breast Augmentation time varies with the technique of the Plastic Surgeon

As pointed out by several experts in previous posts the Fat Transfer procedure for Breast enlargement of Breast Augmentation takes 2-3 hours. Some surgeons take longer and justify their time by very careful Fat Transfer injection in small amounts and claim superior results as a result of their technique as is done by Dr Coleman in New York. Dr's Khouri and Del Vecchio have recently made strides in reducing the time required. The key is to find an expert who is used to doing... more

How long does fat injection to the breast take?

There are 3 parts to fat transfer, and the length of time can vary a lot depending on the techniques used. Part 1) liposuction of the donor sites. If small cannulas or syringe liposuction is used - it takes longer. Part 2) processing the fat. Centrifuging the fat in small volumes takes longer. Part 3) injecting the processed fat into the new area. Using micro-injection techniques takes longer. Surgeons debate which technique is better. Some... more

Fat grafting to the breast - time and cost

Fat grafting is a growing movement for breast augmentation and reconstruction. The "typical" breast augmentation case takes around 2 1/2 hours, which includes the liposuction to harvest the fat, the processing of the fat, and the time to inject it. Time variation? There are many reasons for this. Is the fat hard to harvest? A skinny woman with little fat may take longer to harvest because you have to work harder to find the fat and harvest enough. As with... more

Fat grafting to the breast works

Thank you for your question. As you can see, there is a dramatic difference in opinions among plastic surgeons on this issue. You will note that Surgeons who routinely perform this procedure, have great outcomes like Dr. Del Vecchio, and have the background to discuss the science, will tell you that this is the single most important development in breast surgery in the past 10 years. Fat transfer works well, it has good results, and with comparatively less issues than other... more

Fat Grafting to the Breasts- Facts Vs Opinion

Fat Grafting to the breast can be routinely performed by a single surgeon in under two hours. This is a fact. See the link below for our paper published in June, 2011 Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. The average volume of breast increase long term was 250cc, or a doubling of breast size. Patients who have results at 4-6 months have kept their results 4-5 years now. Fat grafting to the breast can result in mammographic... more

How Long is the Process of Fat Grafting to Breasts?

The previous expert posters, especially Drs Hartog & Khoobehi, have given you great info. To answer your questions directly in order: 1. Timing can be based upon amounts needed to be harvested and injection citeria. On average 2 to 3 hours per session is a base line. I'm doing one this morning so I believe it will take 3 hours. 2. Cost ranges from $8,000 to $15,000 dependent upon amounts, time in surgery, doctor pricing. 3. Answered in #1 4. S/A

Fat grafting to the breast

If you are asking about an augmentation that is usually a one stage procedure. If you are talking about breast reconstruction after mastectomy that is usually a multistage procedure. The length of time can depend. The technique but since this is relatively new the techniques are rapidly evolving. In addition, some surgeons will use an assistant surgeon to help get the fat and prepare it. It does appear that keeping the fat out of the body for a shorter period of time may be helpful in... more

Fat graft or fat transfer for breast augmentation

Fat grafting is still not widely accepted by plastic surgeons but is becoming more popular: it has been used worldwide a number of yearsa if done correctly at least 60% of the fat should remain as living fat it has been used widely for gluteal augmentation it shouldn't take more than 2-3 hours but it depends on how much liposuction is being done and the cannula technique preferred there is no complete agreement on best technique

It takes less than two hours

The issue of fat grafting to the braest not accepted by most plastic surgeon because of the concern for calcification. This is a valid concern and should be discuss with the patient before surgeey. I been doing fat grafting to the breast for more than 5 years and have performed more than 250 cases. I use special technique to harvest fat without damaging the fat. I have formed fatgraftforum.com to share my experience with other surgeons. The average cost for the fat grafting is around 13-15000$. more

Kamran Khoobehi, MD

28 reviews

New Orleans Plastic Surgeon

Ask the most important question -----

Which is 1- how long does it last and 2-is it safe and 3- how much of a change will I get. Usually, most of the fat goes away, when it does, it can leave calcifications which can look like cancer on mamography and require a biopsy and usually the change is less than one bra size. Breast implant surgery is safe, effective, and tried a true. Why try an experimental procedure.

Fat grafting time based on approach

There are two components to the fat grafting process; the liposuction harvesting component, and the micrografting injection component. In general the length of the procedure is dictated by the first part, the liposuction part, as the reinjection part is usually fairly quick and dependant only on how much fat is being injected - usually from about 150 - 400cc. There is still some discussion as to the best way to harvest and process fat prior to injection. On the one hand there is the very... more

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Comments (1)

Jenna2013 21 Mar 2013

That is great news about Dr. Delvechio and Dr. Khouri being able to shorten surgery and maintain results. Are clients seeing a savings in cost of the procedure because of it taking less time. I ask this with an ulterior motive as I am scheduled to meet with a few to surgeons to discuss AFT transfer for myself in the next month. Thank you for your time.

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