Despite the stigma surrounding it, fat can be very beneficial. It provides body contouring and shape to your body. It also provides facial volume and definition to your face. Fat is essential to giving you a youthful and vibrant appearance.
However, as you age, facial fat begins to move away from your face, leading to facial volume loss and a hollow and gaunt appearance. A facial fat graft can rejuvenate your face by restoring fat to critical areas like your cheeks, enhancing your facial contours.
Understanding Facial Aging and Volume Loss
Facial aging often leads to a decrease in fatty tissue, resulting in deep lines and marionette lines. This loss of youthful volume contributes to a tired look. Facial fat grafting works by addressing these aging signs, replacing lost volume, and restoring a youthful glow.
How the Fat is Transferred
The fat injections used in facial fat grafting are not synthetic filler or donated by a stranger. They actually come directly from your own body, usually around your thighs or buttocks. The fat is harvested with liposuction through a small incision. Once the fatty tissue is removed from your body, it’s treated and prepared so that only pure fat cells are used in the transfer. After the fat is prepared, it is carefully injected into your face in small increments at specific injection sites.
Tailoring Fat Transfer to Individual Aesthetic Goals
Each facial fat transfer patient has unique aesthetic goals. A thorough medical history review and understanding of the facial structure help in achieving natural-looking results. This stand-alone procedure often requires no allergy testing, making it a safe option for most.
Where the Fat is Transferred
The site of the injections will vary depending on which areas need the additional volume. Like your body, fat is present all over your face, and volume loss can occur pretty much anywhere. Volume loss typically occurs around your cheeks, eyes, and jaw.
The Cheeks
Ideally, you want full cheeks to achieve youthful fullness. When you lose fat in this area, your face becomes flatter. If you lose enough volume, your cheeks will start looking hollow. Adding more fat through a facial fat transfer procedure can restore some volume and a healthier look to your cheeks.
The Eyes
Around your eyes, fat can do different things as you age. For some people, the fat begins moving downward and accumulates under the lower eyelid, contributing to frown lines. These bags can make you look older and are difficult to conceal. Other people lose fat around their eye sockets, which makes their eyes look hollow. Fat can be transferred to different areas around your eyes to fill in the bags or the socket so your eyes look naturally beautiful.
The Jaw
Losing fat around your jaw has different effects on your appearance. The fat usually migrates underneath your chin towards your neck, resulting in a double-chin look. Depending on your facial structure, your jawline may become especially sharp, or you might lose all definition in your chin and jaw. Fat can be placed around your chin and jaw to restore these features to their normal appearance. Facial surgeries such as a facelift or a neck lift can also help improve the look of your face and neck.
How Gender Plays a Role in Fat Transfer
Understanding what differentiates a male face from a female face is important in fat grafting because the fat can be used to sculpt the face through added volume. The goal is to make your appearance look healthy and natural appearance, not to change it completely or make you look like the wrong gender.
Combining with Other Procedures for Enhanced Results
Often, facial fat transfer treatment is combined with other cosmetic surgeries like facelifts or eye lifts. This holistic approach to facial rejuvenation ensures comprehensive results, addressing not only fat deposits but also skin laxity and texture. A plastic surgeon specializing in these areas can often achieve long-lasting results.
Recovery and Aftercare
The recovery period following a facial fat graft is crucial. To enhance the longevity of the youthful results, patients are advised to manage sun exposure and maintain their skin with structural proteins.
Rejuvenate Your Appearance Today with Dr. Bustillo
You can rejuvenate your appearance through facial fat transfer by making an appointment with Dr. Andres Bustillo. He is a board-certified cosmetic surgeon whose practice focuses solely on cosmetic procedures for the face, head, and neck. This includes facial rejuvenation through fat transfers, facelifts, neck lifts, eye lifts, and many other surgical and nonsurgical procedures designed to make you look your very best.
You can schedule an initial patient consultation with Dr. Bustillo at his office in Miami, Florida, by calling (305) 663-3380 or schedule it online through the Contact page.
