Could I Take Fat from a Family Member and Use It?

Many patients with a good physique and little to no body fat inquire if they can use a family member's body fat to inject, and unfortunately the answer is no. The body will reject the fat because it recognizes it as a foreign body and the immune system will attack it. There is also a risk of developing an infection as well. Most doctors are able to locate some fat on the patient, and if not then they can simply gain some weight for the procedure. Be sure to consult with a board certified plastic surgeon when discussing your procedure.

Unfortunately, you cannot use fat from a friend or family member, unless he/she is your identical twin (not fraternal). 

Unless you borrowed fat from a genetically identical twin, the fat would be rejected and would completely disappear in short order.

Unfortunately, fat from anyone other than ourselves has factors that cause rejection. So, in short, no you can not use fat from other family members. If your looking for a fat transfer but dont have enough fat your alternative is the use of implants.

 

Good Luck

Fat transfer (or fat grafting) is the process of performing liposuction in one area of the body and injection of the processed fat into another area. This process can be implemented for both cosmetic and reconstructive purposes. The most common cosmetic uses are in facial fillers (e.g. the laugh lines or nasolabial folds), buttock augmentation (i.e. Brazilian butt lift) and in hand rejuvenation (i.e. hand lift). The reconstructive uses extend to implant-based breast reconstruction and for facial reconstruction (e.g. Romberg's disease and hemifacial microsomia).  In order for the fat cells (adipocytes) to survive in their "new" location, they need to be "accepted" by the body. The immune system is involved in this acceptance-rejection process. Unless the donor of the fat cells is an identical twin, the adipocytes will be rejected.

Fat transfers have become very popular, this is the transfer of fat from one area of the body to another.  The fat used must be from your own body, you can not use someone else's fat!  Don't worry, we can always find some fat, even on skinny people!

Fat grafting can only be done using one's own fat. If you do not have enough donor fat then fat grafting is not an option.

Only once in the last 25 years have I successfully grafted fat from a relative; that was between 2 patients who were identical twins. Otherwise this cannot be done. 

Theoretically, fat grafting using a family member's fat is possible only if you use fat from an identical twin. Plus, fat grafting to thighs is an extremely uncommon request. Perhaps weight training would be a better solution. :) Thank you for sharing your question. Best wishes.

It would be nice to take fat from another person but your immune system would reject it immediately. Possibly in the future, that problem could be solved  but for now you must confine yourself to your own source of fat.