Safe, Natural Volume Filling with Your Own Fat
Fat grafting is surgery in which your own fat, harvested from areas such as the abdomen or thighs, is purified and transferred to sunken areas of the face.
Fat grafting is surgery in which surplus fat from the body is harvested through a thin tube, filtered of impurities, and then injected in small portions through a thin tube into sunken areas of the face.
In a word, it is surgery that moves fat from your own body to where it is needed.
Because it is your own tissue, no artificial material is placed in the body. In exchange, the transferred fat has to survive in its new location. In medical terms this is called engraftment (the transferred tissue settling in and surviving).
One part of facial aging is loss of volume. With age, the fat in the forehead, temples, and front of the cheeks decreases, creating shadows and a sunken look.
As we age, aging progresses starting from deep within the skin. Commonly, from the late twenties, facial fat is lost, the forehead flattens, nasolabial folds deepen, and the cheeks hollow, making a person look older.
Face Plus volume fat grafting is a method in which fat is harvested from areas with excess fat such as the thighs or abdomen, only the pure fine fat is selected, and it is grafted into deeply sunken areas to fill in volume. What matters in fat grafting is that natural volume is maintained for a long time.
Facial fat that is lost with age! Creating a youthful look with natural volume
Areas that need volume: forehead · temples · front cheekbone area · cheeks · nasolabial folds · chin, and others
It is done when the face looks sunken, shadowed, or older, and the main cause is lost volume rather than sagging.
"Have I lost weight, or has it sagged?" If you are unsure in front of the mirror, start here.
A sunken face and a sagging face are different problems. Simply filling sagging tissue can make the face look heavy. We first look at which is the main cause.
| Type | Subjects |
|---|---|
| Whole-face fat grafting | When several areas, such as the forehead, temples, front of the cheeks, and the area around the nasolabial folds, are sunken together |
| Fat grafting by area | When only one or two areas are sunken |
| Forehead fat grafting | When the forehead is flat or sunken so that an uneven contour shows in the side view |
If the area under the eye bulges and the area below it is sunken, an operation that moves the fat under the eye may be appropriate. It is explained in the information on lower eyelid fat repositioning surgery.
Both fill sunken areas, but they differ in material and in whether they can be reversed.
| Fat Grafting | Hyaluronic acid filler | |
|---|---|---|
| Material | Your own fat | A product (hyaluronic acid) |
| The process of harvesting fat | Yes | None |
| How much of the amount placed remains | Some is absorbed, and how much remains differs from person to person | It is gradually absorbed over time |
| Reversing it | There is no medication that dissolves it. Removing it requires liposuction or an incision | It can be dissolved with an enzyme that dissolves it (hyaluronidase) |
Filler is explained in Filler procedure information.
Transferred fat survives only when new blood vessels grow in from the surroundings and supply it with blood; the parts that do not get this are absorbed.
That is why a large amount is not placed in one spot. It is placed in small amounts, in several layers and several directions, through a thin tube.
A Word from the Doctor
"The graft take rate matters, but a good result can only be obtained by injecting the right amount into the areas that truly need it."
At first, grafted fat tissue is not connected to blood vessels, so it survives on nutrients seeping in from the surrounding tissue, and it takes hold once new blood vessels grow in (revascularization, the formation of new blood vessels). In an animal experiment, only some of the fat cells located about 0.3 mm inside from the edge of the graft survived, and deeper than that the fat cells died and were either replaced by new cells or remained as necrosis (tissue death). For this reason, a method is used in which the fat is injected little by little as the thin tube is withdrawn, divided among several tunnels.
In plain terms — Transferred fat survives only when new blood vessels connect to it. If it is placed in one lump, the center does not receive blood and dies. That is why it is placed in thin strands like noodles, divided into many tracts.
Most of the dead fat is absorbed, but some can remain as an oil pocket or a hard lump. This is explained again in the side effects section.
Yes. A facelift and fat grafting are often done together.
While a facelift lifts the sagging tissue, fat grafting is done at the same time if there are also sunken areas. Sagging is addressed with surgery that pulls up, and sinking with surgery that fills. Many faces have a mixture of both.
A Word from the Doctor
"… It is truly important to restore volume at the same time as pulling the face up with lifting."
When combined with a facelift, you need to stop smoking for 3 to 4 weeks before surgery. Anesthesia, scars, recovery, and side effects of the facelift are explained in the facelift information.
The sites for harvesting and injecting fat are marked, anesthesia is given, and the fat is harvested, purified, and injected in divided portions into the face.
Since it may feel vague the first time, we have laid it out step by step.
We look at where and how much is sunken and decide on the areas and amounts to inject. The area from which fat is harvested is also decided at this time.
A small hole is made and fat is harvested with a thin tube (cannula).
Blood, anesthetic fluid, and oil are filtered out of the harvested fat, and only the living fat tissue is collected.
Small amounts are placed in several layers with a thin tube with a blunt tip.
The forehead, glabella, and temples are places where blood vessels connected to the vessels going to the eyes and brain pass, so the layer and amount are placed with particular care.
The forehead skin is thin, so if the injected fat is uneven, the bumpiness can show through. The amount is decided by looking at the contours of the middle and both sides of the forehead.
Swelling and bruising mostly subside within about 1 to 2 weeks, and the volume of the transferred fat decreases most during the first month, after which the change becomes smaller by 3 to 6 months.
If you have work or an important appointment coming up, this is probably what you most want to know. We have written it by time point.
| Time point | Course |
|---|---|
| First few days | Swelling and bruising are greatest in the face and at the site where fat was harvested |
| 1–2 weeks | Much of the swelling and bruising subsides |
| First 1 month | This is the period when the fat that will be absorbed decreases the most[5] |
| About 3 to 6 months | Volume change becomes smaller and settles. It can still decrease slightly for up to 1 year afterward[5] |
Right after surgery, swelling makes it look larger than the amount that was placed. This is not the final result. There is no need to be too alarmed when you look in the mirror.
So that you do not have to endure recovery alone, the doctor and the nursing team check your swelling, pain, and condition together. The third of our treatment principles is “We see patients more frequently after surgery.”
If something feels wrong after surgery, do not put up with it on your own.
These symptoms usually appear during or right after the injection, but cases have also been reported in which they appeared several hours later[4].
For vision changes, severe headache, confusion, or abnormal speech or limb function, do not wait; call 119 immediately. If skin color changes or pain becomes severe outside clinic hours, go to the nearest emergency room.
You can call our main number, 02-541-8500, or apply through Consultation & Booking information.
The clinic is located on the 4th floor of Vorati Al Building, 480 Gangnam-daero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. It is a 1-minute walk from Exit 3 of Sinnonhyeon Station.
At the consultation, please tell us about any fillers, threads, or fat grafting you have previously had in your face, the medications you take, whether you smoke, and any plans for weight change.
Fat grafting is not simply an operation that fills. Fat grafting is facial contouring surgery.
— Dr. Park Jung Keun, Plastic Surgery Specialist · Face Plus Talk
As a doctor who mainly performs facial plastic surgery, I naturally get many inquiries about facial contours. In particular, the consultation most often sought to correct facial contours is, naturally, for facial contouring surgery. That is bone surgery. Literally, facial contouring surgery makes the contour of the whole face smoother and smaller. In practice, it is an operation that makes the face smaller in size.
However, wanting to have facial contouring surgery and actually having it are very different things. In most cases, people want to find a method other than facial contouring surgery. An operation often done together with facial contouring surgery is fat grafting.
One thing ordinary people mistake is thinking that fat grafting is an operation that fills areas that are sunken or hollowed. They think that filling a hollow with fat tissue or filler will make it smooth. Of course, there are cases in which surgery is done for that kind of correction. It truly fills sunken areas.
However, fat grafting is also widely used when surgery is done for the overall facial contour. That is, in a facial contour consultation, rather than simply bone surgery, surgery is carried out that uses fat grafting to make the whole face look smoother and smaller. So rather than an operation that simply fills sunken areas, a more accurate expression would be facial fat contouring surgery, which makes a face that looks large and dated look more polished and pretty.
Every time I perform fat grafting, I always operate thinking of it as facial contouring surgery. So I sometimes recommend fat injection in unexpected areas that patients had not thought of. Fat grafting is not simply an operation that fills. Fat grafting is facial contouring surgery.
Besides swelling and bruising, the transferred fat may be absorbed more than expected, clump and harden (calcification), or the two sides may become different. Rarely, if fat enters a blood vessel and blocks it, vision can be lost, a cerebral infarction can occur, or the skin can undergo necrosis.
Because this is something you must know before deciding on surgery, we have written it out in full without shortening it. Please decide after fully understanding the items below.
In plain terms — There is one thing to remember first. Injected fat blocking a blood vessel is rare, but it is a serious problem, such as loss of vision or death of the skin, and needs treatment right away.
Other things that can happen are as follows.
These problems show up over time, and in some cases are corrected with additional grafting or removal.
If you suspect any of the symptoms above, please follow the guidance in Do not wait in these cases.
Fat that has settled remains as your own tissue, but how much will remain cannot be promised in advance.
"How much of the injected fat remains?" This is the question that must be answered most honestly.
Even after the fat has settled, the face continues to age, and if your weight changes, the volume of the transferred fat changes as well.
Fat grafting is surgery in which your own fat is harvested and transferred, while filler is a procedure in which a product is injected. Hyaluronic acid filler can be dissolved with an enzyme that dissolves it, but there is no medication that dissolves fat.
Some is absorbed, and how much remains differs by person, area, and method. We cannot promise in advance what percentage will remain. For the fat that remains, volume change becomes smaller after about 3 to 6 months.
A single session is enough in some cases, and in others an additional graft is done to make up for what has been absorbed. This is decided after the fat has settled.
Yes. A facelift and fat grafting are often done together. If there are also sunken areas, fat grafting is done at the same time. In this case, you need to stop smoking for 3 to 4 weeks before surgery.
This links to a video on the Face Plus Plastic Surgery YouTube channel. View All FacePlus TV
These are surgeries and procedures often discussed together with this surgery during consultations. Whether to have them together is decided after an examination.
He personally consults on and performs facial aging treatments such as facelift, droopy eyelid surgery, and thread lift. The doctor personally sees you from consultation through recovery.
About the DoctorThe content of this page is general medical information provided in accordance with the Medical Service Act, and the effects and recovery time of surgeries and procedures may vary by individual. All surgeries and procedures can cause side effects, so please make your decision only after a thorough consultation with a plastic surgery specialist.
Facelift, droopy eyelid surgery, and thread lift: Dr. Park Jung Keun personally checks every stage, from consultation to recovery. Please schedule by phone or KakaoTalk, or leave a consultation request form.
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