Fat Transfer to Breasts - Honolulu, HI

I recently had a fat transfer to the breasts. I used negative pressure breast cups daily for 30 minutes for a month before the surgery to stimulate blood circulation to the breast tissue and expansion of the breast envelope so more fat could fit into the breast. I did not notice much growth from the cups, but do feel it stretched my breast envelope so more fat could fit in it. Dr. Randy Wong expressed that did not want to overfill the breasts, as too much pressure would cause a higher rate of fat cell death post surgery. However, I was pretty confident that the skin on my chest would accommodate more fat as I think I have a larger breast envelope and larger pectoral muscles than the average woman, and I diligently used the breast pump. I was considering getting the breast tissue under the armpit area removed (it would be cut, not lipo'd out), but opted not to to see what it would turn out like after the breasts and the area near it were filled in more.

Around 800 CCs of fat was harvested from the outer thighs, inner thighs, knees, love handles, and stomach. There were a total of 8 lipo entry points, which are healing quite well. 300 CCs of fat was injected into the left breast (originally a bit bigger than the other) while 450CCs of fat was injected into the right breast - the right is now a little fuller than the left but they will take one month to shrink to their permanent size. Dr. Wong made one incision into the under crease of my breasts which is quite small but made hundreds of passes with a 16g syringe, tunneling the fat into my pectoral muscle and areas where breast tissue already existed. The idea is to get the fat cells the maximum surface area exposure so they can get a healthy blood supply and survive. I was under general anesthesia for the procedure and woke up without nausea. Was pretty tired after the procedure (I think it lasted up to 5 hours from the time I was dropped off to when I was picked up). I was pretty chipper after the procedure and felt fine from the local anesthesia. Once it wore off, I was quite sore and stayed mostly in bed for the first 3 days after the procedure. By day 5 I was going out of the house for errands and by day 7 I was out camping. Dr. Wong used "tickle lipo," in which the cannula spins and whips around to facilitate easier tunneling through the fat. This method seems to be causing less soreness than SmartLipo, which I previously had on the inner thighs. Dr. Wong provided Arnica and another herb to reduce bruising and swelling.

So far, my breasts have been tender, but more at the level of soreness that comes during a period of with pectoral workout. They have palpable lumps, but visually look smooth. I have been massaging the lumps to encourage the fat to travel into the tunnels made for them during the injection phase, and to encourage circulation. The lumps have been dissipating, and they really do not bother me at all since they are not visible. The swelling has gone down, and I am very curious to see what the permanent size will be at one month. About 30%-50% of the fat cells die after transfer, and it seems that mine will be about in that range.

I am about 36 days post op right now and I know this is the point at which the fat has supposedly settled. It was definitely sad to see some of the fat die and the breast swelling go down. At this point I do not have any discomfort, and any lumps in the breasts that were there for the first two weeks after the surgery are now gone. I think the lumps indicated swelling where some of the dead fat cells were that have since been absorbed by my body. There is definitely a size increase in the breasts from their original size, but compared to the initial largeness of the swelling and fat pre-cellular death, they have gone down quite a bit. I am definitely happy with the lipo of the abdomen and especially the thighs. The lipo scars are minimal on most entry points, except for the bikini line scars are larger since they were the main hubs for harvest in all directions. Feeling pretty good but sorry to witness the fat cells die.

More pre-op photos. When looking at the before and after photos there is definitely a difference. Sometimes I compare them to their initial post-op bigger size and see that they have shrunk, so its good to compare to the before pics.