Karyn Grossman, MD

Dear mumay1,
It can absolutely look natural! Fat grafting to the face is one of my favorite procedures for natural revolumization. I’ve been performing this in my practice for over 20 years. After weight loss, or aging, skin appears loose and saggy due to volume loss in the area. Strategically adding fat back into the upper face will help lift the skin and reduce the “gaunt” appearance which happens after significant weight loss or aging. Additionally, revolumizing the upper face decreases jowling and improves the appearance of your lower face as well.
The trick is to find a practitioner who is experienced in this specific procedure. Using fat instead of filler is ideal because it lasts longer.
One important thing to remember is that fat in your face is subject to variation depending on weight loss or weight gain. I would recommend undergoing this procedure when you are at a stable weight. Gaining or losing more than 10-15 pounds before or after the procedure is not advised.
However, if you concerned about how you will look after fat grafting, you can always try to start with an HA filler. If you end up not liking how it looks, you can always dissolve it.

Hope that answers your question!

Dear monyecee50,
Thank you for providing photos. If you felt that liposuction made this area worse, it is possible that what you are dealing with is skin laxity, not so much “neck fat.”

If you wanted to go the surgical route, you can always consult with a plastic surgeon. If you wanted a less invasive option, there are many treatments that we can offer to help tighten that skin and also reduce any fat that may be in the area.

If there is fat and loose skin, this is hard to tell without seeing you in person, I would recommend a combination of Necktite/Lipo to tighten the skin and melt fat, Morpheus 8 to further tighten the skin and increase collagen production, and MyEllevate, a permanent suture for the submental area which will give support and reduce the appearance of your platysmal bands. This procedure will have minimal downtime, can be done without going under general anesthesia, and all of my patients report that they have no pain during or after the procedure.

If you only have loose skin and no fat, I think a procedure like Ellacor would be a good option to consider. It is the first minimally invasive procedure that reduces the volume of loose skin.

Hope that helps!

Dear amelia123456789,
Drinking alcohol will not dissolve your lip filler or effect the final fullness of your lips. The reason we instruct patients not to drink before and after injectable appointments is to decrease the risk for bruising and swelling. However, regardless of how well you follow pre- and post-injection instructions, there is always a chance that you will still bruise, especially in an area as vascular as the lips. I recommend to all my patients to schedule their injectable appointments 2-3 weeks before any big events just incase they bruise, that way they have enough time for it to dissipate.
Hope that answers your question!

Dear Julisol13,

It depends if you are looking to get FaceTite in the same area as the liposuction or if you are getting it in a different area. If it is in a different area, you should be able to get it within 2-3 weeks, once the majority of swelling has subsided. However, if you are looking to treat the same area with the 2 modalities, you would like need to wait about 6 months or so until you have fully healed and can see the final results of the liposuction. I will mention that there are many practices that offer both liposuction and FaceTite/NeckTite, this is a combination that I perform often. I find that patients do better when combining procedures and having one downtime as opposed to need 2 different recovery period.

Hope that helps!

Dear Little.Mermaid.Xo,
What you’re describing sounds like you’ve built up resistance to Botox. This is not uncommon, particularly with patients who’ve been using the product for many years. It’s not that your body is rejecting it, your tolerance is causing you to need more to get the same effect. Keep in mind that as we age, we tend to need more to get the same results we would get 5 or 10 years ago. I recommend trying a different brand like Dysport, Xeomin, or Daxxify. We offer all of these at Grossman Dermatology.
Alternatively, some patients tend to metabolize the product faster. However, if this was the case for you, you would have likely experienced issues with duration from the beginning.
Tolerance of neurotoxins should not effect how your body responds to filler. Filler and neurotoxins like Disport and Botox work in completely different ways. Toxins paralyze the muscles therefore decreasing movement and wrinkling, fillers add volume to refill the fat that’s lost as we age or to augment. Hope that helps!