1. From Your Hips to Your Lips
You're likely not alone if you have ever wished that you could lose the fat around your hips and thighs, but accentuate your cheeks and fill out your lips. You can, by using that same fat. Fat grafting is a procedure by which fat is removed from areas of the body where it collects in abundance (mainly abdomen, hips or thighs) and injected into areas of the face that are in need of structural reshaping or filling out. Thin lips can be made plump, wrinkles and creases can be smoothed and sunken cheeks be puffed up using fat grafting, otherwise known as free fat transfer or lipostructure.
2. The Skinny on Fat Grafting
There's more to the procedure than simply sucking out the fat from your thighs and injecting it into your face. The fat must be carefully removed, or harvested, so cells are not harmed; damaged cells should not be used. Removed by a procedure very similar to liposuction, the fat is then "spun" to separate it from other tissue. Damaged cells are removed and healthy fat cells are placed into a syringe and injected. Sometimes, strength and longevity can be increased by spinning the patient's blood to remove excess water and proteins and mixing that and vitamin C with the fat cells.
3. Fat Reigns Supreme Over Other Injectable Fillers
There are some benefits to using your own body as an injectable filler to augment facial features over other types of fillers, such as bovine collagen or hyaluronic acid. The risk of any allergic reaction is eliminated since your own cells are used. Any chance of rejection of any chemicals being introduced into the body is also removed, thus decreasing risk of infection. Fat can be removed and stored for future graftings, though this type is not as successful as fat that is freshly harvested.
4. Bouncing Back From Fat Grafting
You won't see results overnight, but once any swelling and bruising have gone down (ice is applied for up to 48 hours after surgery), you'll see the new you. Within two to three weeks (fat grafting takes longer to heal than other forms of fillers), inflammation will be gone and you can return to all of your normal activities. The results, just like from other fillers, is not permanent, but can last for up to a few years. The natural aging process and the fat being reabsorbed into the body can reverse the effects of fat grafting.
5. Your Fat May Not be Happy to Make the Move
Despite this being your own fat from your own body, this is still surgery, and some risks and complications remain. Most are very rare. An allergic reaction to anesthesia, fat embolism (fat being inadvertently injected into a blood vessel), overcorrecting (too much fat injected, resulting in fatty cysts or the fat tissue dying), infection at the site of injection, permanent skin discoloration due to a ruptured blood vessel and the formation of scar tissue are all possible, no matter how remotely.
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