Is fat transfer an effective method for treating smile lines and smokers lines?

There are two different lines that form on the face. The one type or line represents a break down of the supporting layer of the skin resulting in a sharp line. The smokers or lipstick lines are an example of this type of line. Fat in my experience , even with the micro fat is too large to place in the line. I have placed fat/stem cells under the lines with plus minus success.   The second lines are actually furrows. These represent a loss of volume in the face. Fat can be a nice treatment for these areas.

It most certainly is. These are mainly caused by volume loss and fat is the main tissue that wastes with time.  You have to be careful with the smokers lines though because you don’t want to have too full of an upper lip.  Laser or radio frequency heat delivery also does wonders for smokers lines. 
Hope this helps,

Best of luck,
DrC

Fat transfer (the gold standard) or filler is an effective component to fill lip lines. In addition, Botox or Dysport can be used to slightly relax the muscles we use to pucker lips, and laser treats the etched in lines.

Hello and thank you for your question. Autologous fat transfer is an effective technique in experienced hands to treat many areas of facial aging. Depending upon the quality of the wrinkles they may benefit from this treatment option. I would recommended you seek out a qualified board certified plastic surgeon with expertise in these areas for and in person consultation. In many instances if the wrinkles are extremely fine, injectable fillers may promote a better outcome.

Yes, fat transfer can help improve these areas and rejuvenate your appearance. Keep in mind, fat transfer technique is what's most important for successful fat transfer. I recommend water-assisted fat harvesting which gives pure fat to transfer and combine with platelet rich plasma (PRP) to get the most viable and sustainable fat cells. I combine with Sculptra, depending on area, to improve results. Fillers are an alternative and would allow you to try on the look before committing to a permanent option. I recommend getting a formal evaluation with an expert. Best, Dr. Emer

Thank you for this great question which many patients contemplating or undergoing this procedure are sure to ask. Fat transfer is an incredibly effective way to restore volume to the face. Harvested fat is a living graft that requires good blood supply in the recipient site to survive and become incorporated, and once it does, it pretty much stays there permanently. This is one of the greatest advantages of fat compared to other volumizing products such as Fillers and Sculptra. The percentage of fat that survives out of the total that is injected is called the "take rate". The best location for a fat transfer is in the cheeks, lower eyelids, temples and forehead. Unfortunately, because the mouth moves so much, the take rate on injected fat around the mouth is generally very low (think of it as a blood vessel aiming for a moving target). I still inject around the mouth and lips during a full face fat transfer because even a 10% take rate is better than 0, but I always educate my patients not to expect a great deal sticking around. I usually recommend laser or chemical peel skin resurfacing for wrinkles around the mouth, although patients need to be aware of the increased down-time associated with such treatments (atleast 10-14 days of swelling and 24/7 occlusive ointments and the possibility of prolonged redness). Fillers are extremely popular around the mouth to treat the lines you're referring to, although longevity varies between 6 months to 1 year. Hope that helped! Best, Dr. Roy. 

My experience has been that fat transfer it's not a particularly great treatment for find wrinkles.
It can be a good option for giving overall diffuse volume but tends to not be nearly as precise as using fillers.
For example creating lip augmentation by making the lips larger with fat transfer can help with the smokers lines but injecting fat directly into the smokers lines will probably not work well.
Many surgeons will inject that into nasolabial fold's but my personal experience has been that it's not nearly as precise as using fillers.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom M.D.

Thank you for your question. The nasolabial
area is probably the only area of the face where fat injections do not do as
well as dermal fillers.  In my
experience, synthetic fillers work much better in those area.    I would recommend consulting with a facial
plastic surgeon who is very familiar with both fat transfers and dermal
fillers.