Pros

• Renuva can reverse fat loss and add volume in any areas of the body where fat naturally exists, including the face, hands, breasts, and buttocks.
• It can effectively treat a wide range of concerns, including cellulite dimples, breast asymmetry, breast implant rippling, and indentations from scars.
• The treatment is done in-office and requires no downtime.
• Results can be very natural looking, since the volume is created by your own new fat cells. 
• While you'll continue to age, the new fat that develops will be permanent (while other injectable dermal fillers offer only temporary results).
• Renuva works especially well for small volume improvements, such as filling in divots and dimples.
• Renuva is less expensive and less invasive than fat transfer, a surgical procedure that requires liposuction.

Cons

• While you’ll see some immediate results, it takes up to three months to see final results. 
• You may need more than one Renuva treatment for optimal results.
• Results are dose-dependent and can vary, so it’s important to find an experienced provider. 
• Unlike with temporary dermal fillers, results aren’t easily reversible.

Related: I Tried Renuva to Make My Hands Look More Youthful—Here’s My Honest Review

Your cost will depend on how many ccs you get, how many treatment sessions you have, your provider’s level of experience, and their practice location.

You can finance your treatment with CareCredit.

The Renuva photos in our gallery have been shared by the provider who performed the procedure, with the patient's consent.

Renuva is an allograft adipose matrix, meaning it's derived from purified donated fat tissue. 

The Renuva adipose matrix contains the same growth factors, proteins, and collagen found in your own naturally occurring fat, so your body won’t react to Renuva as a foreign substance.

Renuva injections are an in-office procedure that typically takes 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the number of areas of the body being treated. 

The procedure itself is very straightforward:

• First, the treatment areas will be numbed with a local anesthetic.
• Once the area is numb, Renuva is injected under your skin via a small needle or cannula. 

Recovery time is short: you’ll be able to return to work or daily activities immediately afterward.

You’ll see some smoothing and additional volume right away, but it takes up to three months to see your final result, according to Dr. Stanley Okoro, a plastic surgeon in Marietta, Georgia. That’s how long it takes for your own body fat to fill in the adipose matrix.

If you decide you don’t like your Renuva results, the deoxycholic acid in Kybella can melt the fat. It can also be removed via liposuction.

No major side effects have been reported.

As with other injectable procedures, there’s potential for swelling, tenderness, redness, bruising, pain, or irritation at the injection site during the initial recovery period.

Any of these symptoms should resolve on their own after a few days.

It’s possible that you’d need two or more Renuva treatments to get the results you want. Dr. Jason Emer, a plastic surgeon in West Hollywood, California, recommends a series of injections until you see optimal results. At your first treatment session, your provider will inject a baseline amount.

You’ll return three months later, once your body’s own fat has filled in the treated area, to assess your results and determine whether another treatment is needed.

Renuva results are permanent. While the Renuva adipose matrix itself is not permanent, “your own fat that settles into the matrix will be,” says Dr. Okoro.

There are no live cells in Renuva, so it’s not the same thing as getting a live fat transfer. During an autologous fat transfer procedure, the surgeon harvests fat cells from one area of your body via liposuction. The fat is then processed before being injected into another area, such as the breasts, butt, or face. 

“If you’re looking for volume, nothing beats a live fat transfer,” says Dr. Hung William Song, a physician in Oakland, New Jersey, in a RealSelf Q&A. “If you are looking for some rejuvenation of the skin and modest plumping of the skin, an off the shelf product like Renuva is easy to use.” 

When you don’t have enough excess volume for fat transfer from other areas of your body , or you want to avoid the expense and risks of harvesting it via liposuction, Renuva is a viable option.

“It’s a great alternative for patients who are too thin to use their own fat or who need only a small amount of fat—like those needing around 5cc [less than 0.2 ounces], to improve the look of cellulite in the thighs, correct small defects in the breasts, or add facial volume,” says Dr. Sternberg.