Is fat transfer safe and effective to tear trough / festoon areas? (photos)

Facial fat transfer is inherently, unpredictable and precise, and can be unforgiving if patients don’t like the outcome. This is especially true when working around the orbits. The contour in this area is complex and not easy to treat in terms of getting consistent quality outcomes. I would encourage patient to lean on the side of caution and safety. While the chance of medical complications are fairly small, the chance of getting quality aesthetic outcomes is not the highest compared to other cosmetic surgical procedures.
Consider working with Fillers until someone has proven that they can get the results correct before attempting a permanent solution that is in someways irreversible.
Both Liposuction and fat transfer procedures are technically challenging operations with great variation in outcomes, depending on who you choose as your provider. Being board-certified and plastic surgery with years of experience, and an overall good reputation does not mean somebody has mastered any one single procedure. The number of plastic surgeons who are truly excellent at both Liposuction and fat transfer is relatively small. Patient should be more selective than they think necessary. For these reasons I recommend patient start by having multiple in person consultations. There’s no correct number of consultations to find the right provider but I suggest patients start the process by having at least five consultations.
During each consultation, ask each provider to open up their portfolio and show you their entire collection of before, and after pictures of previous patient, who had similar body or facial characteristics to your own for the procedure of interest. An experienced provider should have no difficulty showing you the before and after pictures of at least 50 previous patients.
Being shown a handful of pre-selected images, representing the best results of a providers career is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like or how many of these procedures anyone surgeon has actually performed.
Vet your providers carefully and choose once you feel quite certain you find the best surgeon for the procedure you’re interested in.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom, MD