Fat Transplant- Doctor can you move it from down here to up here?

Doctors have known for more than 100 years that it was possible to graft fat cells from one place in the body (donor site) to another (recipient site). The limitation of the procedure has been that the fat doesn’t have a very good blood supply and that when large chunks of fat are moved, it doesn’t all survive. Traditionally, only about 50 percent of solid fat grafts will survive.

However, with the discovery of liposuction in the early 1980’s, research with the liquid fat cells began to be done. It was discovered that some of the fat cells removed with liposuction were intact and alive. The success of fat transplantation in this manner has progressed and more recently we have discovered that there are special stem cells in the fat removed by liposuction. These stem cells have the ability to grow into other kinds of tissue cells besides fat. Research facilities are now using these stem cells to treat certain kinds of illnesses; such as lung and heart disease, using the fat to regrow damaged cells in each particular organ. This research is in its early stages and will likely progress. As a result of the stem cell research, we also know more about why fat removed by liposuction survives.

I have been performing basic fat transplantation with liposuction for more than 30 years. It is my experience that if the fat is handled carefully and gently, much of it will survive.

 Areas where fat transplantation has been most successful include:

• Scowl lines in the face


• Lip enlargement and definition


• Cheek and chin enhancement


• Rejuvenation of the hands


• Repair of defects in the buttocks such as dimpling and dents caused by medication injections. (cortisone injections)


• Enhancement of buttocks


• Smoothing of wrinkled areas of the body due to previous liposuction or trauma.


• Repair of stretch marks


• Breast enhancment and smoothing

The procedure is performed by taking fat from one area of the body with liposuction tools, processing the fat to make it more likely to survive and then reinjection of the fat cells into the desired area in very small amounts. (Remember that fat doesn’t have a very good blood supply-so the fat cell can’t be separated from living tissue too great a distance). The transplant procedure is often performed using local anesthesia (similar to the local anesthesia used for liposuction) and both the donor site and the recipient site are numbed with the local. Mild sedation is sometimes used to enhance the patient’s comfort.

Following the procedure, there is minimal discomfort. There is usually some swelling in both areas for a period of time. The recipient site will slowly lose some of its fullness as the swelling goes down and the fat shrinks. Approximately 60% of transplanted fat will survive in this manner. Later, when the fat cells have recovered from their transplantation, they begin to grow and the recipient area will recover some of its fullness. This might not occur for up to 3 months. At approximately three months, it may be time to perform another transplant procedure.

Performed properly, the procedure has few risks and is mostly successful with minimum down time and recovery.