Fillers

Autologous fat transfer

The fat-injection procedure, also known as autologous fat transplantation or microlipoinjection involves extracting fat cells from the patient's abdomen, thighs, buttocks or elsewhere and reinjecting them beneath the facial skin.

Fat is most often used to fill in "sunken" cheeks or laugh lines between the nose and mouth, to correct skin depressions, to minimize forehead wrinkles and to enhance the lips.

After both the donor and recipient sites are cleansed and treated with a local anesthesia, the fat is withdrawn using a syringe with a large-bore needle or a cannula attached to a suction device. The fat is then prepared and injected into the recipient site with a needle.

"Overfilling" is necessary to allow for fat absorption in the weeks following treatment. When fat is used to fill sunken cheeks or to correct areas on the face other than lines, this overcorrection may temporarily make the face appear abnormally puffed out or swollen.