What You Need to Know About Fat Transfer for the Face
As we grow older, our faces lose collagen, resulting in facial volume loss. The effects of facial volume loss include the deepening of bony contours around the temples, eyes, and cheekbones. These deep, hollow facial features can make the face look sallow, and you may feel like you appear much older than you actually are.
It’s possible to get these sunken features filled out in a short, minimally painful procedure that creates long-lasting results.
That’s why so many people are choosing to undergo facial fat transfer in Los Angeles, where your own fat can be transferred into your face, filling out these hollow caverns and giving you a youthful facial rejuvenation. Fat fillers for the cheekbones in Los Angeles are a relatively new procedure for those looking to undergo Los Angeles facial plastic surgery, as surgeons did not recognize the impact that loss of facial volume can have on one’s aging until the past few years.
Fat transfer is done with fat taken from your own body, whether it be the abdomen, hips, or inner thighs, which in turn keeps allergic reactions to a minimum. Fat fillers can correct deep wrinkles and folds, reversing decades of aging in one procedure. If you are looking to reverse signs of aging, you may be wondering if a fat transfer is the right option for you.
Possible Candidates for Fat Transfer
Those looking for a facelift through fat transfer in Los Angeles probably have deep wrinkles or other issues that cannot be corrected with facial creams and serums. Common facial creases, like crow’s feet and smile lines, and even acne scars can be corrected with fat that’s removed from your abdomen, thighs, or other areas and injected into your face.
Other issues that can be corrected through fat transfer for the face are:
- Deep forehead wrinkles
- Sunken cheeks
- Sunken temples
- Smile lines or nasolabial folds
- Undereye bags
- Jowls along the jawline
Due to the far-reaching effects of this procedure, potential candidates can be people of all ages looking to correct a wrinkle or dip in their skin.
How Fat Injections Are Administered
Fat transfer for the face is an outpatient procedure done with local anesthesia, meaning that you will be conscious, but unable to feel the injection site. Fat grafting is divided into a three-step process:
- Harvesting
- Purification and transfer
- Placement
During the harvesting portion of the procedure, your doctor will extract fat from one part of your body using a small needle. The fat is then transferred to a centrifuge to remove unnecessary, excess fluid. A different needle is then used to inject the fat into any parts of your face that need filling out. Since the needles your surgeon will use are so small, scars will be minimal and hardly noticeable, and they should fade rather quickly.
Following the treatment, you may feel like your surgeon overfilled your face, but this is actually on purpose. Overfilling is done in anticipation of the fat absorption that naturally occurs in the weeks after treatment. This is completely normal and to be expected. However, the fat that remains will stay forever.
Fat Injection Results & Side Effects
About 50% of the fat injected will fade away within a few days, leaving you with a rejuvenated appearance. Most people should arrange to take at least a week off from their regular activities in order to stay home and heal. Giving yourself adequate time to heal is essential for any surgery.
Swelling and bruising will be pretty severe in that first week following surgery, but bruising should be gone by the second week. About three weeks following surgery is where most fat transfer patients feel they can go out in public.
Just a few days after surgery, you should be able to see signs of improvement in the problem areas on your face. In the months following the surgery, the fat and swelling will continue to subside. Your face will stop shifting in about six months, allowing you to get a full understanding of the final results.
While surgeons estimate that around 50% of your fat injections will fade away in the months following your procedure, the fat that remains will stay on your face forever. You may also notice other areas that you’d like to get injected in order to reach your final goals. Due to the unpredictability of this procedure, you may need two to four procedures to get your desired results.
Consulting a Los Angeles Cosmetic Surgeon
Having an honest discussion with your plastic surgeon is the key to understanding your attainable goals and reaching your desired looks. Set up a consultation with Westside Face to ensure that you will receive natural-looking results with minimal discomfort and downtown.
