Rejuvenation through Regeneration - or how Fat can make your Face look younger
Loose skin, wrinkles, sagging tissue...these are all signs of the natural ageing process. Interestingly, this trinity of laxity is caused by a loss of facial fat volume resulting in deflation of facial tissues and downwards descent. The converse of this is also true, re-inflation of empty compartments can help us regain our youthful appearance. Fuller faces do look younger for longer, but fat transfer is not about facial volume alone, it’s about using stem cells to regenerate tissues and placing purified fat cells carefully within facial fat compartments.
What is facial fat transfer?
Fat transfer (also known as lipofilling, fat grafting or autologous fat transplantation) is a procedure that uses a person’s own fat (from areas of excess such as the lower abdomen or thighs) to fill other areas of the body that have lost volume - in this case, the face. The fat is purified, washed and filtered to separate out pure fat cells. Furghermore the purified fat is used to generate a stem cell rich aspirate (SVF or stroma vascular fraction) which is a few mls of straw-coloured fluid rich in rejuvenating stem cells. The stem cell component of autologous fat transfer is used to soften creases and fill out wrinkles as well as enhance the luminosity of the skin.
If you want to know more about this procedure, head on our blog to read Everything you need to know about fat transfer.
How does fat transfer work?
The procedure is similar to a dermal filler, with the major difference that the injected substance is your own body fat (a completely natural product) instead of a synthetic filler used in most non-surgical treatments. This means the results are more natural, longer-lasting, and the adverse reactions are down to a minimum.
The fat transfer procedure starts with a procedure similar to liposuction, where an area of extra fat is injected with fluid then a small microcannula inserted via a 3-4mm incision to suction the fat through a tiny tube. The manually harvested fat is purified and concentrated to transform it into pure fatty tissue. The fat is then decanted into micro cannulae and prepared for injection into areas of the face that have lost volume and require re-inflation.
The fat can be further manipulated to microfat, nanofat or SVF and tiny aliquots injected sub-dermally so it is evenly distributed into well-vascularised tissue that will supply the transplanted fat cells and stem cells with oxygen and nutrients.
Where can you harvest fat from?
The most common areas are the thighs, the abdomen, flanks or hips, as these areas are naturally fatty body parts and also problematic for most people in terms of extra adipose tissue.
Facial fat transfer results
Not all the fat may ‘take’ (pick up a blood supply and stay alive) so some may be resorbed. The majority will survive and the final results will appear in weeks/months once the fat has grafted successfully and begun to exert a functional benefit.
Benefits of facial rejuvenation through fat transfer
Restores lost facial volume
Smooths facial wrinkles and lines
Improves the divots and appearance of acne scars
Rejuvenates the appearance of skin
Regenerates subcutaneous cells and structures (fibroblasts, vascular structures)
Natural results - the results look and feel more natural, as you are using your own tissue to restore facial volume
Long-lasting results - facial fat transfer results can last for years
Fat is a rich source of stem cells - this helps speed up skin renewal and improves the texture and volume of your skin
Minimally invasive - facial fat transfer does not require intensive surgical techniques
Local anaesthetic
Daycase procedure.