I would like to correct the negative orbital vector and to build up my cheek volume. Would fat injections or an implant be better for this? I would prefer the fat injections; however, I am worried that the fat injections would not retain and may be lumpy since my tissue is thin in this area.
Answer: Fat injection versus cheek implant Cheek implants offer a predictable and consistent result when augmenting the mid-face. Fat injections are very unpredictable as to how much fat will live after the injections. Cheek implants are manufactured in a large variety of sizes and shapes, are usually placed through intraoral approach under brief general anesthesia as an outpatient procedure. For more information and many before-and-after examples, please see the link and the video below
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Answer: Fat injection versus cheek implant Cheek implants offer a predictable and consistent result when augmenting the mid-face. Fat injections are very unpredictable as to how much fat will live after the injections. Cheek implants are manufactured in a large variety of sizes and shapes, are usually placed through intraoral approach under brief general anesthesia as an outpatient procedure. For more information and many before-and-after examples, please see the link and the video below
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March 15, 2017
Answer: Cheek mcwa227, Although I perform fat injections I do them sparingly. I know some of my colleagues feel otherwise and that is good for discussion purposes but in the majority of my patients I can achieve improvement in hollowness under the eyes and cheek area using other more predictable methods. One of the drawbacks of fat injections is that one has to over-fill to begin with to account for expected absorption of some of the transplanted fat. That in and of itself is the reason I use this approach sparingly as the percentage that injected fat gets absorbed is different for each patient. I’ve seen patients with little absorption who look over injected for a prolonged period of time; I’ve seen patients who absorb the transplanted fat fairly aggressively (they look fairly good for about a year but after that you can barely tell you did any injections) and I’ve seen patients that get a good result that can last several years. I don’t like doing things that have that much variability. As the originator of the SOOF lift blepharoplasty I can tell you that in my opinion this is the best procedure for improving the hollow look under the eyes that accompanies the aging process. I've been doing nothing but this procedure since I originally published this approach around 1999 in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery and have only had one redo to date. For cheek’s I prefer a midface lift should they have adequate midface fat left and if not I prefer a cheek implant. All these techniques work predictably and last many years with little known risks. Always see a surgical specialist that does "onlyfaces" and has decades of experience. See the video and good luck!
Helpful
March 15, 2017
Answer: Cheek mcwa227, Although I perform fat injections I do them sparingly. I know some of my colleagues feel otherwise and that is good for discussion purposes but in the majority of my patients I can achieve improvement in hollowness under the eyes and cheek area using other more predictable methods. One of the drawbacks of fat injections is that one has to over-fill to begin with to account for expected absorption of some of the transplanted fat. That in and of itself is the reason I use this approach sparingly as the percentage that injected fat gets absorbed is different for each patient. I’ve seen patients with little absorption who look over injected for a prolonged period of time; I’ve seen patients who absorb the transplanted fat fairly aggressively (they look fairly good for about a year but after that you can barely tell you did any injections) and I’ve seen patients that get a good result that can last several years. I don’t like doing things that have that much variability. As the originator of the SOOF lift blepharoplasty I can tell you that in my opinion this is the best procedure for improving the hollow look under the eyes that accompanies the aging process. I've been doing nothing but this procedure since I originally published this approach around 1999 in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery and have only had one redo to date. For cheek’s I prefer a midface lift should they have adequate midface fat left and if not I prefer a cheek implant. All these techniques work predictably and last many years with little known risks. Always see a surgical specialist that does "onlyfaces" and has decades of experience. See the video and good luck!
Helpful
