I’m looking to have a facial fat transfer done after years of suffering from a chronic illness that caused a lot of my facial fat to disappear. My illness started with an severe adverse reaction to an antibiotic that dismantled my immune system and nervous system so I am not looking to take another antibiotic any time soon. I am wondering if it’s possible to have a facial fat transfer procedure without antibiotics? Is the risk of infection too high?
June 25, 2019
Answer: Facial fat transfer and the use of antibiotics my best guess is that 75% of plastic surgeons would use a short course of anabiotic's starting immediately before the procedure for facial fat transfer. Facial procedures have an extremely low rate of infections. When infections do happen they can't be devastating so even if there's a marginal difference we tend to lean towards using antibiotics. If there is a significant risk to using antibiotics then it seems very reasonable to not use antibiotics for this procedure. Scientific evidence has shown that a single dose of antibiotics lowers infections for most elective and surgical procedures. The decrease in infection rate is still fairly small. In general the infection right after surgical procedures hovers around 1/2%. Certain procedures have a much higher infection rates. Like I said earlier, facial procedures tend to have lower infection rates. Make sure you disclose your full history to any future providers. It's also important to get assessed as to what facial fat transfer can or cannot do for you. This procedure is by its very nature somewhat unpredictable and imprecise. Some people benefit from having the same procedure a few times to build up the ideal amount of fat. This may be especially true for someone who has lost a lot of facial volume. Personally I believe fillers are far superior to fat transfer but I completely understand why it said transfer seems appealing. It's important to understand the limitations as well. Best, Mats Hagstrom MD
Helpful 2 people found this helpful
June 25, 2019
Answer: Facial fat transfer and the use of antibiotics my best guess is that 75% of plastic surgeons would use a short course of anabiotic's starting immediately before the procedure for facial fat transfer. Facial procedures have an extremely low rate of infections. When infections do happen they can't be devastating so even if there's a marginal difference we tend to lean towards using antibiotics. If there is a significant risk to using antibiotics then it seems very reasonable to not use antibiotics for this procedure. Scientific evidence has shown that a single dose of antibiotics lowers infections for most elective and surgical procedures. The decrease in infection rate is still fairly small. In general the infection right after surgical procedures hovers around 1/2%. Certain procedures have a much higher infection rates. Like I said earlier, facial procedures tend to have lower infection rates. Make sure you disclose your full history to any future providers. It's also important to get assessed as to what facial fat transfer can or cannot do for you. This procedure is by its very nature somewhat unpredictable and imprecise. Some people benefit from having the same procedure a few times to build up the ideal amount of fat. This may be especially true for someone who has lost a lot of facial volume. Personally I believe fillers are far superior to fat transfer but I completely understand why it said transfer seems appealing. It's important to understand the limitations as well. Best, Mats Hagstrom MD
Helpful 2 people found this helpful
