Facial Fat Transfer

Conveniently located to serve Washington DC, Arlington, Bethesda

What is facial fat grafting?

Over time, everyone’s face starts to lose facial fat.  This is why thinner patients tend to age faster. This creates loose skin, aging and wrinkling.  It is common for the cheeks, lips, temples and even the earlobes to start to deflate.  Facial fat grafting can be used by itself or in conjunction with a lifting procedure to give your face a more youthful appearance. This procedure can also be performed in patients with HIV lipodystrophy.

How is the procedure performed?

Small incisions are used to harvest fat from the abdomen and/or love handle area. This fat is processed into pure fat that is very smooth.  This fat is injected into the affected areas.  Generally more fat than needed is injected as some loss in the weeks after the procedure is expected.  The fat cells “take” becoming part of the normal fat of this area.

What is recovery like?

Recovery is quick and bruising/swelling is expected.  There are no postoperative restrictions since only tiny incisions are used for this procedure.

Risks

1.  Facial fat graft loss – we expect some graft not to “take”, however this amount may be more in some patients.  Some fat graft loss over time is expected.
2. Lumps/bumps – although injected in a smooth fashion, sometimes there are areas that feel lumpy, this generally resolves with massage. 
3. Harvest site issues – sometimes there can be lumpy skin at the area of fat harvest – this is more common in very thin patients.