A modern approach to fat grafting is High Volume Precision Fat Grafting, and it is changing the face of fat grafting – sometimes literally when used for facial procedures.
Each year, more and more people are opting to go under the needle than under the knife.
Fat grafting is becoming a popular alternative to cosmetic surgery across the United States.
While fat grafting is gaining traction, it is not exactly a new procedure. In fact, it’s been around for over one hundred and twenty years. It has come a long way since its beginnings. Dr. Johnson performs a very modern fat grafting procedure called High Volume Precision Fat Grafting, as an alternative to invasive cosmetic surgeries. Fat grafting, also referred to as fat transfer or fat injection Fat Transfer, initially was used as a way to correct facial deformities. It may surprise you that the first fat graft was actually performed in 1893. This pioneering procedure took fat from the arm of a patient and injected it into an area around the eye in order to improve the appearance of a scar. Fat grafting was successfully used in the years following but was not used widely because of concerns over the complications at the time, like infection, that came along with the procedure. Fat harvesting was also very difficult, and results were inconsistent until modern liposuction was developed. The popularity of the procedure has grown significantly since the 1990s when a successful plan for the harvesting, refinement, and injection of fat was developed. The method has considerably evolved even since then, and in the last few years, fat grafting has become more popular. Physicians have better technology and a better understanding of how beneficial the use of fat is as an alternative to surgical procedures. Another benefit of using fat from your body compared to other procedures that use implants is that your body recognizes its own cells, so there is no chance of rejection – which can end up causing bad results. Also, stem cells derived from adipose fat tissue collected during fat transfer, have also been shown to be successful in a wide range of conditions. With any fat graft, liposuction is the first step. Liposuction used to require general anesthesia, but new, more modern procedures use tumescent fluid consisting of saline and lidocaine, to numb the patient. This is beneficial because patients stay awake during the procedure, which allows for a faster recovery. During the fat grafting process, the collected fat is vacuumed right into a special container and then separated in that container from other tissue. The fat is then reintroduced into the body at the desired site of treatment. By using this process, fat does not have to be transferred to syringes as it had in the past, so the risk of infection is eliminated very low. Another advantage of this modernized technique is that fat cell survival increases because manipulation is minimized. Dr. Johnson sees a fat survival rate of eighty-five percent fifty to 90 percent. By handling fat transfer in this manner, patients experience better and longer-lasting results. Innovations Medical performs fat grafting procedures at both our Dallas and Fort Worth practice locations. Do you want to find out more about high volume precision fat grafting? For more details, schedule your consultation and bring your questions! Call (214) 643-8665 today!