Any Advantage to Fat Transfer During Facelift Vs Injecting at a Later Date?

I prefer to perform grafting at the same time as the facelift, in areas NOT undermined by the facelift.
What is to keep the graft there when it is placed between two skin flaps? What is to prevent the fat injection grafts from shifting or moving? The answer is nothing.
Grafting into areas NOT undermined are effective. Grafting into areas of the facelift that ARE undermined is less effective because the grafts can move.

Hi, Thank you for this question, since it is consistently one of the most frequent questions asked at our WAVE Plastic Surgery practices.  Unlike fillers, fat is a living cell-adipocytes.  When we remove fat from one part of the body, we are cutting off the circulation to these cells and they will die unless they receive new blood supply.  When we place these fat to a new place, we are expecting new source of blood supply to grow. When they do, the fat cells will survive and they will last for a very long time.  So it is crucial that the techniques used to harvest fat, purification, and placement of fat in the new location all increase the possibility of fat survival.  When these techniques are used, fat grafting is very consistent a wonderful method to volumize with a natural and long lasting result.

that’s s great question.  I’m my opinion fat injection during a facelift is an absolute waste of money.  I don’t do it and can’t even buy into the logic behind it.  Do not let yourself get talked into this.  It adds thousands to the cost and will not make one bit of difference in the long run.

During your #consultation, your skin texture and elasticity, as well as your underlying skin structure and your facial bone structure will be evaluated. Based on this evaluation, your board certified plastic surgeons will create a custom surgical plan, detailing specific techniques and recommendations to meet your goals. In doing so, he or she should be sure to have a full understanding of what results you expect. It is possible to #combine #surgeries. In fact, I commonly recommend other procedures to go accompany a facelift, such as blepharoplasty or a midface (cheek) lift, to name a few. The combination of multiple of facial procedures may create an optimal result. The best procedure approach will be discussed in greater detail during your one-on-one #consultation. I invite you to visit PacificCenterPlasticSurgery.com to view a complete list of surgeries commonly performed. If you are not a #candidate, your surgeon can make other suggestions to address your concerns and objectives. It is extremely important to seek a board certified plastic surgeon highly trained with your desired procedures. I also encourage you to look at before and after photos of the surgeons actual patients. Also, reading patient reviews of those who have had combined surgeries will be beneficial. Gathering all of this information will help you make a well-informed decision.

Generally, I prefer to perform fat grafting at the same time as a facelift. One of the most obvious signs of aging is loss of volume in the face. Therefore, simply lifting and stretching the skin in a traditional rhytidectomy can make the face look too taut. Fat grafting fills in the lost volume. Combining a lift with fat grafting restores the look of youth to your face in the most natural manner possible. Performing both surgeries at once will ease your recovery as well. I hope this helps.

Thank you for your question and for sharing your concerns. Fat grafting is a great addition to a facelift procedure as part of your aging concerns can be attributed with loss of facial volume. Even though part of the fat grafts don't survive, the surviving portions can help soften areas of the face that have lost volume (e.g. nasolabial folds, lips, marrionette regions, cheeks, tear troughs, etc). The main advantage of doing fat grafts at the time of surgery is that you have one recovery from both procedures.

As you age by three factors - sagging (through gravity and time), loss of volume (counteracted by fillers), and skin texture (determined by environmental and genetic factors). Fat transfer or Fillers should enhance your effect of the lifting if placed appropriately by addressing one of the causes of aging. It can be done equally successful at the time of surgery or afterwards in my experience.

Facelift and Fat Transfer Are Complementary and typically are done at the time of your facelift. If additional fillers are desired and appropriate then I would wait until you can see the final results from your facelift and the suppleness has returned to your tissues. For most patients this is 3 or more months after a mini-lift such as the LiteLift that I perform, or after 6 months following a traditional facelift. In my experience there is no decrease of survival "take" of fat if injected later.

 

I prefer to perform fat grafting to the face at the same time as the facelift. 

Performing facial fat grafting at the same time as a facelift saves the patient an additional surgery, recovery time, and money.

There is no survival advantage for the fat if it is grafted or injected into the face at the time of surgery or at a later date.  However, it is important for the fat that is injected at the time of surgery to be injected in areas that have not been aggressively undermined or dissected.  This will ensure maximum vascularity to the grafted fat and maximum fat graft survival.

Jaime Perez, M.D.

Face Lift Specialist in Tampa, Florida

Plastic Surgery Center of Tampa, Florida

The rejuvenation of the face includes the surgery, volumizing the deflated face and skin resurfacing with skin care and/or laser. This multidimensional approach allows the plastic surgeon to get the best results possible for the patient. Each of these procedures can be done separately.
Fat grafting is commonly done with facelift surgery to restore volume. Autologous fat is often taken from the tummy/hip areas and used as micro fat transfers to the face.
By performing fat transfer at the time of a facelift , the surgeon can visualize the deeper tissue planes under the skin for placement of the fat. The areas to replace the fat are the cheeks, folds around the mouth and lip augmentation.
And the other advantage is having only one recovery.

 The results will be the same. It is usually done at the same time so that you have only one recovery time and it is cheaper.