How do I know if a Dr is good at facial fat transfer?

I did not recommend fitting providers based on techniques used or any brands of devices, or any other marketing gimmick.
The bottom line is finding a provider who has to skill an experience and is an ethical inherent. Patient advocate.
Finding the right provider is not easy or straightforward.
In my opinion the best way to do this is to have a lot of in person consultations. It’s not a bad idea to have a follow up consultation, once you’ve interviewed a number of providers.
During each consultation, ask each provider to open up their portfolio and show you their entire collection of before, and after pictures of previous patients have similar facial characteristics to your own.
Bring a set of proper facial pictures, both frontal and profile of yourself to use as reference during consultation or whenever reviewing before, and after pictures.
Recognize that fat trans results can look very impressive early after the procedure, but early results do not represent long-term final results by any stretch of the imagination.
Fat transfer results change dramatically over the following six months after the procedure.
Whenever looking at before, and after pictures, always confirm and never assume the timeframe of when after pictures were taken.
Make absolutely sure you have a clear understanding of the timeframe of when after pictures were taken after this procedure because you can’t interpret results unless you’re aware of the timeframe difference.
An experience provider should have access to hundreds or preferably thousands of before, and after pictures.
They should be able to show you the before and after pictures of at least 50 previous patients.
Ask provider what their revision rate is and what the revision policy is.
Ask what the most common reason for patients to be unhappy without comes is, how the provider addresses those patients, and possibly to show your results of outcomes that didn’t turn out as well as the provider at home.
We all have a varietyof outcomes.
Being showed a handful of pre-selected images, representing only the bast results of a providers career is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what averages results look like in the hands of each provider, what your results are likely to look like, and how many of these procedures they’ve actually done.
Fat transfer, especially facial fat transfer is highly complex, results are some unpredictable, and the procedure is somewhat imprecise by its very nature.
Fat will survive differently in different parts of the face depending on how much host tissue is available to support the grafted fat.
The procedure has a long steep learning curve and mastering this procedure requires decades of total commitment.
because results change so drastically overtime. It’s very difficult for patience to understand if before, and after pictures can be interpreted as long-term final results, or are just a temporary glimpse of early outcomes, which include swelling, and fat that has yet to be resorbed.
Skilling experience varies, massively, depending on who you choose as your provider. The number of providers have truly mastered this procedure are in the small minority.
Even for the very best providers there’s going to be inherent, inconsistency, and some variation. being board-certified in plastic surgery with years of experience does not mean somebody has mastered every procedure especially not complex difficult operations like facial fat transfer.
Mastering this operation is difficult and in reality very few providers ever get to the point of mastering facial fat transfer.
Because of the inconsistency, lack of predictability of this procedure. I generally recommend patients stay with fillers, because fillers unlike fat grafting is precise, predictable, and forgiving, if you don’t like the outcome.
For those who do select fat transfer having a conservative approach, recognizing that ideal outcomes may require a couple of procedures is probably the way to go.
There’s no correct number of consultations needed to find the right provider.
The more consultations you have the more likely you are to find the better provider for your needs.
considering the complexity of the procedure and how few surgeons actually master facial fat, I think having five or six consultations before selecting a provider is probably reasonable.
My personal suggestion is to avoid virtual consultations whenever possible, and to not travel long distances for elective surgical procedures.
Ask providers specifically how they handle desirable outcomes with fat necrosis, or if too much fat survives in a certain area.
it’s important to vet providers for who gets quality outcomes. It is just as important to vent providers for safety and avoidance of problems. Complications and undesirable outcomes.
Good luck,
Matt hagstrom, MD.