Facial fat harvesting - Can fat be frozen for up to 1 year for touch ups?

Question

Had a consult with a Board Certified Facial surgeon who recommended a deep plane facelift and autologous fat transfer for eye hollows. I was told that they freeze extra fat and can do touch ups several times for up to 1 year. Does frozen fat remain viable and effective?

Joseph L. Grzeskiewicz, MD, FACS · Answer

There is still much to understand about the technology for cryopreservation of fat that makes it still less than perfect.  While it is unlikely that, as long as your fat has been stored sterilely and infection risk is minimized, that it would cause you harm, the big question is how much good does it do.  The thing to understand is that it is not the fat cells (adipocytes) in a "fat graft" that make it "work" anyhow, so those all die and go away whether you inject them immediately or you freeze them and inject them later.  It's all the "other stuff" - cellular and other - that comes with fat grafts that make it work, and that's what has to survive the freezing. We know that viability certainly isn't 100% in tissues stored this way, and there is incremental reduction in viability each month the tissue/cells remain outside of the body.  There are also technical issues of how the graft is stored - what chemicals it mixed with, what temperature it is stored at, and how fast it is frozen to that temperature - that impact the viability or bioactivity of cryopreserved fat, too.  This is not a technology which is even approved by the FDA in this country yet, so it is hard to say what the success rate of your specific doctor's technique is, as it is likely not standardized, as there really is no such thing at the moment for fat grafts.  Personally, if you are talking about just "touch ups" for small volumes (and it should be small volumes of emulsified, or "fractionated" fat grafts), I would suggest just harvesting and processing brand new fat each time you may need a "touch up" down the line.  You are your own best "fat bank."

Facial fat harvesting - Can fat be frozen for up to 1 year for touch ups?

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