Can I Get a Natural Breast Enhancement with Fat Injections?

There is a company called Cytori that is conducting clinical trials of breast augmentation overseas using your stem cells, but it doesn't quite work like you described. The plastic surgeon harvests fat cells, just like with liposuction. They are processed over about an hour, and the stem cells are separated out. They add these concentrated stems cells to the fat that they are going inject to "turbocharge" the injection, so that more of the fat cells stay. One of the problems... more

There is a significant amount of controversy about this topic. Dr. Sid Coleman in NY has published some amazing breast augmentation work done with autologous fat injections. These amazing results are tough for the average plastic surgeon to replicate, as Dr. Coleman does this sort of procedure frequently. Additionally, the procedure takes a long time to do... several hours and at great expense $$$, compared to less than an hour for a breast augmentation. The controversial issue, in... more

As of right now, breast enhancement with fat cells, or using your own harvested fat, is not generally recommended. The reason is that with any fat transfer, you never quite know how much of the fat is going to live and how much is going to die off. If some of the fat dies off ( animal studies show that about 50% will be gone in a year), then it can lead to calcifications, mimicking what breast cancer clusters can look like ona mammogram. This can lead to false positives on a mammogram,... more

Yes, it can be done. The American society of Plastic Surgeons recently published a position paper on this issue. There are several surgeons in the US who are augmenting breasts using the patients own fat. Not only is fat being used for cosmetic purposes, it is also being used to help breast reconstruction patients. I am presently conducting a study using fat stem cells on breast reconstruction patients who have had radiation damage. The fat stem cells not only provide... more

Fat harvested by liposuction contains stem cells. Injecting the fat to the breast for enhancement is still experimental at best. Fat transfer to the breast is done more often in breast reconstruction, and we are learning from that experience but it is far away from being the routine. To become more acceptable we have to prove that we are really injecting stem cells. Some of the fat will die and leave calcium deposits i.e. fat necrosis. Radiologists can tell us if they can differentiate fat... more

I would echo the reply by the esteemed Dr. Teitelbaum. Stem cell breast augmentation is being performed in certain countries in Europe and Asia, but it is very doubtful that it will be performed here in the States for quite some time. There will need to be extensive studies that show it does not interfere with mammography or breast cancer screening first, and this process can take years and years (look at how long the gummy bear implants are taking!). The closest thing we have today is fat... more

As far as I know, there is no such thing in the US. There are some people injecting fat into the breasts but this is still controversial.