I want to get fat transfer to the breasts. Am I too thin for the procedure? (photos)

Breast fat transfer usually is around 100-300 cc per breast. Most patients have sufficient fat throughout their body to accomplish this. Based on the pictures, you are very fit but likely have enough. As always, be sure to research who performs your surgery to ensure the best likelihood of a positive result.

At 51 kg and 161 cm, your BMI is 19.7, which is normal but on the lower end. You may not have sufficient fat. You have not told us your bra size. If you are size 32 or 34, each 100 cc of fat corresponds to 1 cup size change. If you are size 36 or 38, each 200 cc of fat corresponds to 1 cup size change. However, only 60% of the fat survives. So, if you size 32 you would need 150 cc of fat to go up 1 cup size.

Best Wishes,

Gary Horndeski, M.D.

In general, 200 cc per breast is typically the upper limit of fat injection recommended by most plastic surgeons. It is not that more cannot be injected; but on average, this has been determined to be the most that can be expected to live during one transfer. Multiple transfers would be required for additional cc's. In general, the abdomen and thighs are preferred donor sites but fat from other areas can be used. The fat must be injected through multiple planes in small amounts to the tissue through one tiny incision under each breast. About 50% of the fat obtains permanence
Some of the retention rate will depend upon the amount of fat transferred, as smaller volumes will likely have a higher survival. Occasionally, a patient can resorb a great deal of the fat despite optimal transfer procedures. Thinner patients are outstanding candidates in my opinion, because the fat transferred is extremely resistant. Results are largely dependent upon the skill of the surgeon, his/her ability to remove fat without creating contour deformities, and your expectations.

Dear Independent449214,
fat transfer breast augmentation is a viable alternative for women who desire larger breasts without the use of implants. Fat transfer is also widely used in reconstruction of the breast after a mastectomy or lumpectomy. It can also be very effective in correcting the size and shape of the breasts due to genetic problems such as tuberous breast or Poland Syndrome, two conditions that look like misshapen or underdeveloped breasts.In addition, the following scenarios are also reason to consider breast fat grafting:• If you have chest areas that appear creased and sunken• If you desire more permanent correction than is provided by temporary fillers• If you wish to improve your body contour, revise scars, fill bodily depressions and rejuvenate the natural curve of your breasts• To fill in contour irregularities or hide obvious signs of breast implantsYou should discuss your concerns with a board certified plastic surgeon and make sure your surgeon understands your concerns and your breast augmentation goals. Only after a thorough examination you will get more information and recommendations.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

It will be difficult to harvest enough fat for transfer to the breasts. But fat to the breasts doesn’t work that great anyway. Believe it or not some surgeons may tell you to gain weight to get enough fat. Go figure the logic behind that!

You might have a little fat that you could use, but you would do much better with implants. I would suggest meeting with a board certified plastic surgeon and discussing your options.

There are lots of variables to take into consideration. One of them is the size of your breast.

A woman who has a breast that’s about 100 mL in total volume does it need more than three or 400 mL of fat at most.

A woman who has a breast that’s 500 mL can easily require 1200 mL of fat for the procedure.

So a lot has to do with how much fat we need for each individual person’s breast. You simply can’t just keep adding more fat. It’s a matter of percentages.

I think a good plastic surgeon who really has experience with Liposuction should be able to harvest enough fat to do fat transfer it to your breasts. Based on your pictures your arms should definitely be included because they have a good source of fat and arm liposuction at least in my experience give some of the highest patient satisfaction results.

I typically treat the entire torso as a single anatomic unit. I’m guessing your torso would probably contribute 400 mL to 700 mL of fat.

Your arms would probably add an additional 400 mL of fat.

Inner thighs and inner knees blending to the front of the thigh will probably yield an additional 400 to 600 mL.

Are you OK having liposuction of most of your body for a modest augmentation that’s 1/2 to 1 cup?

It’s a lot easier to just get implants.

Rarely our patients black and white yes or no in regards to being a candidate for a fat transfer it. It’s almost always a spectrum of gray where patients and the doctor together have to sit down and figure it out if it makes sense to justify the procedure and if the patient is willing to have multiple areas treated for harvesting fat.
Rarely are patients black-and-white yes or no in regards to being a candidate for a fat transfer. It’s almost always a spectrum of gray where patients and the doctor together have to sit down and figure it out if it makes sense to justify the procedure and if the patient is willing to have multiple areas treated for harvesting fat.

I do not recommend gaining weight for a fat transfer. Being overweight doesn’t look good on anybody with very few exceptions.

Instead the surgeon should consider including more areas for harvesting fat.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of choosing surgeons who have the technical skill to leave patients without any deformities from the Liposuction.

If this is done by someone who isn’t skilled at Liposuction the entire body can be disfigured.

To get the best results I suggest the following.


Avoid traveling long-distance is for elective surgical procedures.

Rely on in person consultations.

Schedule multiple consultations with surgeons in your area who have a good reputation for the procedure you’re interested in.

During the in person consultation to ask each surgeon to show all of their before and after pictures of the procedure you’re interested in. The goal is not to see the best results of their career but to see what average results look like and get confirmation of how many of these procedures that surgeon has performed. Ideally the surgeon should be able to find before and after pictures of patients who are very similar body shapes and contours to your own.

And experienced plastic surgeon should have an abundance of before and after pictures. A highly experienced plastic surgeon will have several hundred or even thousands of before and after pictures for each procedure.

Read all the reviews on various physician review websites avoiding providers with any significant number of justified negative reviews.

Organic unmanipulated reviews tend to follow fairly equally among different review websites. Those with an excessive number of positive reviews on a single website may be a telling sign of aggressive marketing.

The presence of justified negative reviews can be more important than an abundance of positive reviews.

Don’t schedule surgery during the consultation.

Give yourself time to think about important decisions like permanently and irreversibly changing your body.

When in doubt slow down and schedule more consultations.

The outcomes of this procedure are all over the place based exclusively on the skill and experience of the surgeon.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD