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Fat Transfer – All You Need to Know

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No doubt that everyone wants a perfect figure with contoured body parts but some people have allergies with foreign matters which are used to contour your body parts while some people are scarred from major cosmetic surgery. But if you fall in any of these categories, there is a treatment option for you which is called as autologous Free Fat Transfer (FTT) or just Fat Transfer.

The concept of Free Fat Transfer (FFT) has been around since the late 1800s when fat was first reported to be used to fill soft tissue defects.  But the scope of fat transfer techniques has been continuously broadened to include tissue defect repairs in the face, breasts, and other areas of the body.

Fat transfer is a minimally invasive outpatient procedure in which an individual’s own body fat is harvested from suitable areas such as from inner knees, outer thighs, flanks, buttocks, or abdomen and injected into the desired area (eg., the breasts, buttocks, hand, penis, neck or face) to add volume, thereby it results in the loss of unwanted fat from the donor area along with an increase in size of the recipient area. It is a safer alternative to breast implants which can have complications like capsule formation (hardening), migration or rippling etc. It is also known as autologous fat transfer because the fat that is used for injecting is harvested from your own body.

Generally, fat transfer is a safe technique to add volume in the desired area but it is more popular for breast enhancement and bum enlargement. The technique is also used for facial rejuvenation which adds the lost volume in the required area(s) and sometimes used for penis enlargement.

The Fat transfer procedure-

The autologous fat transfer is performed under local anaesthetic or sedation and takes approximately 1-2 hours to complete. It is a three-step process:

  1. Extraction of fat with gentle liposuction
  2. Isolation and cleansing of the fat cells
  3. Re-injection of fat cells into the targeted areas.

At Aesthetic Beauty Centre, we commonly use minimally invasive VASER liposuction technique for fat harvesting from the donor area. In this procedure, a very thin ultrasound probe is inserted into the donor area which emits the high-frequency sound energy to break up and dislodge fat from nearby soft tissue fibers. The fat then becomes liquified and is gently extracted out by a thin metallic tube called cannula via suction through keyhole incisions.

Once enough fat is obtained from the desired area, the surgeon will process it to prepare the fat cells to transfer it in small syringes that will be used as fat injection.

The surgeon will insert a needle or cannula into the incision point of the site which is being augmented. The injection needle is usually passed multiple times in and out of the augmented area. Thus a line of fatty tissue bundle is carefully deposited in planes of natural tissue. This procedure is repeated until the desired correction has been achieved. The surgeon may also use a dressing or bandage over the grafted area for safety.

Features and Benefits of Fat transfer-

Due to following features and benefits, the autologous fat transfer technique is considered better than the traditional methods for breast enhancement and bum enlargement.

  • Fat transfer is a simple and less stressful surgical procedure on the body than other traditional methods
  • The fat which is to be transferred is extracted by minimally invasive VASER lipo technique which ensures little to no damage to surrounding tissue such as nerves, blood vessels and connective tissues
  • There is no chance of allergic reaction because the fat cells already belong to your body
  • Relatively less invasive as compared to traditional methods
  • Suitable for both large as well as small areas
  • It helps reduce weight from other parts of the body as surgeon uses candidate’s own excess fat to enhance and augment the size of the breasts or buttocks
  • Can be performed under local anaesthesia
  • Can be performed as an outpatient procedure, i.e. does not require an overnight stay in hospital
  • Minimum downtime and quicker recovery than traditional methods
  • Minimal scarring, bruising and bleeding
  • Less painful than traditional methods because the sensitive nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue beneath your skin will remain largely undisturbed during surgery.
  • Noticeable and predictable immediate results with continued improvement up to six months after surgery
  • Safe and effective procedure
  • Results are permanent.

There are other options also available to enhance your breast such as breast augmentation by using breast implants but breast augmentation with fat transfer gives

There are other options also available to enhance your breast such as breast augmentation by using breast implants but breast augmentation with fat transfer gives double advantage. Fat transfer is a 2 in 1 cosmetic treatment as in this process removal of stubborn fat is done by VASER liposuction from your problematic donor area(s) leaving those areas sculpted as in a formal liposuction and the same fat cells are injected into the desired area to add volume. Thus you get double advantage without any chance of allergic reaction because the fat cells already belong to your body.

The ideal candidates for fat transfer are those women who feel that their breasts have reduced in size after giving childbirth, on breastfeeding, due to weight loss or aging and don’t want to use an implant to increase the size of it and also those women who want to improve the size and shape of their breast and looking for a safe procedure with minimal downtime and recovery period.

If you are desiring a larger size of your breasts, we would suggest using breast implants, or repeat the fat transfer in about 3-4 months which will increase your breast size by another 1/2 cup to 1 cup size.  However, as compared to breast augmentation with implants may be more expensive because it is a longer procedure and usually requires touch-ups and repetition; but the good thing about multiple procedures with fat transfer is that you are losing the unwanted fat from the donor area(s) such as abdomen, waistline or thighs.

In case of fat transfer to buttocks you will also get added benefit, without any chance of allergic reaction, because the fat cells that will be used to give the additional desired volume to your buttocks, already belong to your body. The donor sites typically used for fat transfer to buttocks are your tummy area, back, and thighs.

Fat transfer to face, Microlipoinjection Free fat transfer or autologous fat transfer, is a minimally invasive day case procedure to restore lost volume to different areas of your face. In this procedure an individual’s own body fat is harvested from suitable areas such as from inner knees, outer thighs, flanks, buttocks, or abdomen and injected to the desired areas of your face to volumize the area. It is a good option for those who would like to diminish or eliminate the appearance of wrinkles, smile lines, marionette lines, crow’s-feet, hollows under the eyes, or ‘sunken’ cheeks. It may also be used for lip augmentation.

Fat transfer can also improve acne scars and can enhance the contours of the jawline. The advancements in techniques of harvesting and transfer have been shown to improve the quality of the skin due to the adipose derived stem cells that is present in the fat. FFT is mostly effective when used to fill small soft tissue defects in the face and also used to improve scars.

The penis can be thickened through Fat Transfer. The surgery is known as Penile Free Fat Transfer ‘FFT’, Fat Grafting, or Autologous Fat Transfer. The donor areas typically used for fat harvesting are abdomen or thighs. The fat is liposuctioned and after filtration and isolation, the purified fat is injected through one or more tiny incisions around the penile shaft using bespoke injection techniques to ensure fat survival.  As fat transfer cells come from the patient’s own body, there is no risk of allergic reaction. This surgery is done as a day care surgery under local anesthesia. The stitches are dissolvable and the incisions heal with almost no scar.

At the Aesthetic Beauty Centre, your progress is reviewed on a regular basis through appointments with your surgeon. Before any cosmetic treatment takes place with the Aesthetic Beauty Centre, we will outline the entire process to you, including potential side effects. Our surgeon Dr. Ashish Dutta, operates from a number of clinics in the UK, including two in the North East.

The procedures he routinely performs for fat transfer can be found onwww.aestheticbeautycentre.co.uk.  For your free consultation contact us by completing our online enquiry formor call us on 0191 567 2900.

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