How Long After a Full Facelift, Can Fat Transfer Be Done?

I doubt there is any scientific literature that addresses this directly.  With that said, one should wait a min of 3 months to inject into a plane that was created and needs to heal.  You can inject as early as 1 month (perhaps earlier) into areas that were not incised/elevated.

I generally advise patients to wait about 3-6 months after a facelift before they undergo a fat transfer.

You should probably wait about 3 months or until swelling has resolved. Find a plastic surgeon with ELITE credentials who performs hundreds of
facelifts, necklifts facelift revisions, and facial procedures each
year. Then look at the plastic surgeon's website before and after photo
galleries to get a sense of who can deliver the results. Kenneth
Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

The timing of fat transfer can be done either before, during or after a surgical procedure. I typically perform fat transfer at the same times as a facelift to help minimize any future downtime. Once a facelift has been performed, it may ideal to wait 3 to 6 months before doing fat tranfer to ensure that there is no residual swelling.

If the transfer wasn't performed during the same time as the lift, then I like to wait approximately 3 months.  Fat transfer to the face is a perfect compliment to the facelift because it restores volume loss that a lift doesn't provide.  

As a general rule I prefer to perform fat grafting at the time of a facelift. This enables my patients to heal from both procedures at once rather than have two separate periods of downtime.  In situations where fat was not placed at the time of the lift, I would wait 3 months to add volume to the face to ensure that all swelling has subsided. Best Wishes.

Fat grafting is commonly performed at the time of a facelift. In some cases, fat grafting has to performed as a second stage usually about 2 or more months later. It is paramount to properly assess the face to determine when and where in the farce the fat graft needs to be performed. Make sure you seek out an experience and talented surgeon to properly perform your procedure.

Fat grafting can be done at the same time as a facelift. The grafts can be positioned while the facial skin is lifted. This is especially useful for the nasolabial areas, but can be used elsewhere. During the facelift intact fat grafts can be placed, and injection may not be needed. If you are considering fat injection, then the skin flaps need to heal first, probably for at least a month or so, but areas not elevated by the surgery such as lips can be injected at the same time as the facelift.

Lifting skin and trimming the excess has been the standard approach to the treatment of facial aging for centuries, but when performed without some means of restoring the youthful fullness of facial soft tissues, the result is an older-looking person with tighter skin. The word 'rejuvenation' means literally 'to restore youthfulness' or 'to make young again', so if the goal of surgery is to rejuvenate the face then it cannot be accomplished solely by means of redraping the skin and removing the excess.In my practice fat grafting is not an afterthought that is thrown into the surgical plan for the occasional patient. It is a key component of almost every major facial rejuvenation surgery that I perform. It is in fact that very first part of the surgical procedure for my patients undergoing a full facial rejuvenation surgery

I typically do my fat transfer at the same time as the facelift. Actually in this day and age it is the best way to do it. I have spent time with some of the top facial plastic surgeons in the country and they all inject fat prior to performing the facelift. It is safe and does reveal excellent results.