As you age, fat stores in your face begin to deplete, and your features start to lose their youthful volume. Dermal fillers can be used to address this, but they may carry with them the risk of allergic reactions or other undesirable effects.

Luckily, there is an option that uses fat from your own body to augment your facial features while also letting you remove fat from problem areas like the stomach or thighs.

How Does Facial Fat Grafting Work?

Facial fat grafting is a great treatment for restoring volume to the face without surgery or the risk of adverse reactions. This procedure also helps target unwanted fat deposits on other parts of the body.

Liposuction is performed to harvest the fat from the donor site, typically the abdomen or thighs. The fat is then put through a centrifuge to purify it. Once any impurities are removed, the fat is ready to be strategically injected into areas of the face.

Combination Procedures

While facial fat grafting can be performed on its own, it is often combined with other procedures to enhance the results. Some patients may wish to undergo blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery) but only require surgical correction of the upper eyelids. If this is the case, fat can be injected into the tear troughs to temporarily fill hollows that may make a person look tired or aged.

Facelift surgery is also commonly supplemented with fat grafting. During a facelift, facial skin, fat, and muscles are lifted and repositioned to provide a more youthful, rejuvenated appearance. Fat grafting can enhance areas that have lost fat due to age.

What Is the Recovery Like?

You will experience swelling and bruising in both the donor and treatment sites. There will be no scarring on the face, as incisions are not required, but there may be minimal scarring where the liposuction was performed. There may be some discomfort but can be alleviated with oral medications. The swelling and bruising will be at their worst during the first week and should dissipate after three weeks.

How Long Will My Results Last?

When your fat grafting procedure is performed, Dr. D’Souza will inject slightly more fat than is needed into the target area because a small percentage of the fat cells that are transferred will die. Touch-up treatments are sometimes required once the patient has healed from the initial procedure. Once you have recovered, your results will be permanent unless you lose a significant amount of weight.

If you would like more information about facial fat grafting or other rejuvenation procedures, please schedule your consultation at our Carlsbad office by calling 760-637-5288 today!