Fat transfer after a deep plane facelift?

There is not anything wrong with getting the fat transfer afterward other than you would want to make sure you're fully healed from the facelift before going in. But... it literally doesn't add any much more pain or recovery to the facelift at all. Fat transfer can be done completely awake under local anesthetic alone and is similar to getting filler. A deep plane facelift is SO much more than that!!! So it basically is like adding a drop of water to a bucket.

Thank you for your question. Fat transfer can be done during your deep plane facelift or later. It does not create more pain, but you can have swelling for a longer time. Fat transfer later, after you are healed can be done under local anesthesia, and there's no discomfort. The donor site might be sore for a few days.

You can certainly get a fat transfer later - that's not going to be a big problem in most cases. You can also do it at the same time and you really shouldn't have any problem with a longer or more difficult recovery.

Facial fat grafting shouldn't increase any pain after the surgery but it will cause a bit of a longer recovery time. However, if you choose to have the fat grafting after a deep plane facelift, your total recovery time will be longer since you will have to recover for the deep plane facelift (about a week, looking really good in two weeks) AND the fat grafting by itself (closer to two weeks before the swelling is down enough to look natural). If you do the two together, the fat grafting is the longer downtime so your total is about two weeks instead of three plus if you do them separately.

Andrew Campbell, M.D.
Facial Rejuvenation Specialist