How Will Smoking Affect Fat Transfer Results?

Dear Nutsforlooks
Smoking delays the healing in all surgeries. The changes in the tissues/vessels is long lasting. Congratulations on stopping smoking- almost- and certainly this will help you with the healing process. The Facial tissue has a good supply of blood and it is unlikely that 1/2 a cigarette will make the survival of the fat transfer worse.
With Warm Regards,
Trevor M Born MD

Thank you for your question. Smoking before or after your surgery can increase your risk of developing complications including infection and wound healing problems. I tell my patients that it is ideal to stop a couple months ahead of surgery and then for a couple months after surgery. Please discuss with your surgeon what their guidelines are for your particular surgery.

Ultimately, the "take" of any graft, be it a skin graft or fat graft ,depends on the delivery of oxygen to the tissues.
Acutely, smoking prevents oxygen delivery by shrinking the small blood vessels that deliver blood flow to the tissues while the patient is smoking. The effect of smoked nicotine is much more marked than, say, chew tobacco, because the dose of nicotine delivered is much higher as it is directly delivered from the lungs to the blood stream.
Chronically, smoking damages the blood vessels by hardening the vessels and shrinking them permanently. There is decreased blood flow to the tissues and that is why patients who chronically smoke have paler grayish skin.
Because of the stem cells that are present in fat grafts, new blood vessels can be created that actually make the skin younger. If you would like to read more about this, read the link below.