In the past two years I have had a mini lift, facial fat transfer and one fraxel laser treatment for under eye area. I considered lower lid surgery but suffer from severe dry eye and most Doctors I consulted were against it and no one was on the same page regarding technique. My doctors goal was to add some fat to cheeks and lower face including lips. I was pretty happy at first but to me the results were so short lived I feel I've wasted my money. Im not certain how to proceed from here.
January 12, 2022
Answer: Facial fat transfer works for some people sometimes In order for grafted fat to survive and give it the intended long-term results certain variables have to be present. Number one is an abundance of host tissue to support the graft. Normally I ask people to include before and after pictures but in your case we can use your final after pictures as your before pictures since the procedure in the end didn’t do much. In your case the true thickness of subcutaneous fat in your thinnest areas is very very thin. Having had to facelift may have heard the fat layers to some degree. It sometimes does. When patients have thin layers of subcutaneous fat on the moderate amounts of fat should be grafted and if someone needs more volume than that then they should expect to repeat the procedure multiple times. With fat transfer soft tissue volume can be increased by about 25-33%. If that means your subcutaneous fat layer is 3 mm thick then it could be brought up to 4 mm. based on your pictures your subcutaneous fat layer may be less than 3 mm thick and then your early postoperative pictures and I fed was added to triple the thickness of this layer. perhaps this is all a bit technical but people who have very little fat will not have a big improvement with a single round of fat transfer I need to plan on having several around so fat transfer to get impressive results. Sellers on the other hand are not at all dependent on how much fat is there and can give results just like your early results but they are inherently temporary because of the use of fillers and substantial volumes will be needed so it will be expensive. You could with time and enough sessions of fat transfer build up to your desired results but don’t expect it to happen with one procedure. Best, Mats Hagstrom MD
Helpful 1 person found this helpful
January 12, 2022
Answer: Facial fat transfer works for some people sometimes In order for grafted fat to survive and give it the intended long-term results certain variables have to be present. Number one is an abundance of host tissue to support the graft. Normally I ask people to include before and after pictures but in your case we can use your final after pictures as your before pictures since the procedure in the end didn’t do much. In your case the true thickness of subcutaneous fat in your thinnest areas is very very thin. Having had to facelift may have heard the fat layers to some degree. It sometimes does. When patients have thin layers of subcutaneous fat on the moderate amounts of fat should be grafted and if someone needs more volume than that then they should expect to repeat the procedure multiple times. With fat transfer soft tissue volume can be increased by about 25-33%. If that means your subcutaneous fat layer is 3 mm thick then it could be brought up to 4 mm. based on your pictures your subcutaneous fat layer may be less than 3 mm thick and then your early postoperative pictures and I fed was added to triple the thickness of this layer. perhaps this is all a bit technical but people who have very little fat will not have a big improvement with a single round of fat transfer I need to plan on having several around so fat transfer to get impressive results. Sellers on the other hand are not at all dependent on how much fat is there and can give results just like your early results but they are inherently temporary because of the use of fillers and substantial volumes will be needed so it will be expensive. You could with time and enough sessions of fat transfer build up to your desired results but don’t expect it to happen with one procedure. Best, Mats Hagstrom MD
Helpful 1 person found this helpful