What is Lipofilling and How is It Used for Breast Reconstruction?

In general, fat grafting (removing fat from one area of the body and injecting into the reconstructed breast) is used to fill-in or refine areas of the reconstructed breast.

Fat grafting has been shown to be a reasonable ancillary procedure to "touch-up" monor irregularities with breast reconstruction.

Fat grafting is a useful tool to fine tune the results from your post mastectomy results with either implants or using your own tissue (DIEP/TRAM).   Fat is removed from another area of the body using a liposuction technique and processed to be injected in tiny amounts to areas that need more volume.   I tell my patients that not all of the fat we inject will "take".  Therefore additional treatments may be needed.  The early results for fat grafting as an... more

Fat transfer is a useful tool to optimize breast reconstruction outcomes. I recently fat grafted a patient's TRAM flap to improve volume, projection and shaping of the reconstructed breast. Insurance will pay for 'revision of breast reconstruction' and patients benefit from the liposuction required to obtain the fat for grafting. That's a double bonus for the patient !

Fat transfer can be really useful in breast reconstruction for some patients. Obviously it is not possible to use fat transfer as the only means of reconstruction. Fat transfer is most useful for filling in smaller asymmetries that may still exist following your reconstruction procedures.

Fat transfer or fat augmentation is useful as an ancillary procedure to recontour irregularities in the breast during reconstruction.  The downsides of injecting fat into the breast after breast cancer diagnosis is still unclear and unproven. 

Recently advances have been made in techniques to harvest and transfer living fat cells from patients and move them from one part of the body to another. Improving contour issues in breast reconstruction is one situation that fat transfer has an increasingly important role. Most commonly, fat transfer is used to soften the interface between the edge of the implant and the surrounding tissues. Sometimes, the extent of the mastectomy is beyond where the implant will fill and a sharp stepoff... more

Fat grafting is often used in breast reconstruction for two main reasons - To correct the "shelf" that occurs between the chest wall and the upper pole of the implant To correct contour irregularities around the implant (palpable ripples, thin areas of skin, etc.) The fat is removed from another area of your body (abdomen, thighs, hips) and is processed to isolate the fat cells. These fat cells are then injected into the area you wish to fill. Depending on... more

Fat grafting is most certainly helpful in breast reconstruction. It is not meant for primary reconstruction but best used to correct small deformities after the major procedure has been accomplished.

Hi. Fat transfer is not the primary technique in breast recostruction, but we often use it to add finesse and a more natural look AROUND the main reconstruction. The main breast reconstruction is done with an implant or a flap. But there can be hollows or defects from the mastectomy around the implant or the flap. This is where filling in with fat injections can turn a good result into a great result.

There has recently been increased interest in the use of structural fat grafts for breast reconstruction to camouflage chest wall anomalies. Anecdotal reports of "lipofilling" have been reported to improve lateral rippling and wrinkling in saline breast implants, however there isn't a uniform consensus on how it should be done and what consequences, if any may result, in the long term. Dr. Roger Khouri, M.D. (Miami, FL.) is a national expert on this technique and has spectacular... more

Minor imperfections that occur with breast reconstructions can be minimized by various biological substances from fat grafts to Alloderm or acellular cadaver dermal matrix. Each has advantages and disadvantages that you should discuss with your plastic surgeon.

The classic methods for breast reconstruction include expanders/implants ,implants only or using your own tissues (abdominal tissues, back tissues etc.) Lipofilling (microfat) proved to be a safe and effective technique in other areas of the body (face, buttocks etc.) When used in the breast there are some concerns in the plastic surgery community regarding the secondary effects. In my practice i found it very helpfull as a secondary method of reconstruction. In revision cases ,in minor... more