Fat Transfer and Fat Grafting Woolahra
Fat Grafting Woolahra
Most people age by losing facial volume, resulting in hollowing around the eyes, temples, forehead, cheeks, and thinning of the lips. Subsequent to deflation of the face and force of gravity, a sagging appearance of the face and neck becomes evident. Here at Dr Zurek, many of our patients from Woolahra are getting positive results with our fat grafting and fat transfer procedure.
Loss of volume in other areas of the body, e.g. breasts, hands, and other defects, including deformities following over aggressive liposuction, can also be addressed by fat grafting and fat transfer. In view of this, Dr Zurek is convinced fat grafting is the most important method for rejuvenation of the face by restoring volume.
Fat grafting consists of transferring your own body’s purified tissue, containing stem cells and the biological messengers (growth factors) necessary for the tissues living cycle to continue.
In recent years, studies of fat tissue have shown that fat contains large amounts of stem cells, which are capable of differentiating into all types of body tissue. Therefore fat may be considered to provide the basis for tissue regeneration.
Following fat grafting or fat transfer, our patients from Woolahra can expect permanent volume restoration and local tissue regeneration. Over several months following the procedure, improvement in skin texture, suppleness, colour and also improvement of existing scars have been noted.
Fat grafting and fat transfer procedure
Here at Dr Zurek, we perform the procedure under local anaesthetic and sedation. Fat grafting at our clinic involves 3 steps:
- Harvesting: Preferred donor areas are where the fat is “stubborn” and persists during body weight changes. In women, this is commonly the abdomen and thighs. In men, it is usually the flanks (love handles) and lower abdomen. Fat is gently removed through a tiny skin puncture using a special cannula attached to a syringe, extracting tiny parcels of fat (micro-fat).
- Purification/processing: The fat is immediately processed by centrifuging, allowing removal of oil and anaesthetic fluid, and producing condensed fat that is rich in stem cells and growth factors.
- Fat Injection: The condensed fat is transplanted using a delicate micro cannula, allowing precise deposits of tiny fat parcels at different levels to create volume and skin improvement. As the fat grafting procedure involves transplantation of living tissue, Dr Zurek believes it is essential to do this as quickly as possible to prevent deterioration of the fat tissue outside the body.
- Upper Level (least dense layer), oil from ruptured fat cells
- Middle Level (30-70%) potentially viable parcels of tissue
- Lower Level (most dense) water, blood, lignocaine
Dr Zurek’s technique of fat grafting and fat transfer
For our patients from Woolahra, Dr Zurek’s technique of fat grafting and fat transfer involves transplanting tiny parcels of fat, allowing better “take” of the graft by increasing the surface of contact with the recipient site tissue and also decreasing the risks of lumpiness.
“Super Charging” of the purified fat with extra isolated stem cells or adding of PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) is controversial, with no convincing scientific evidence of a better outcome.
Transplanted fat undergoes the normal dynamic cycle of cell life, manifesting in shrinkage and loss of volume initially, followed by regrowth of tissue. It takes approximately 6 months for the fat graft to stabilise.
Fat transplantation is expected to be “permanent”, however, the natural cycle of ageing and the patient’s individual response must be considered. The most important factor compromising the fat graft and fat transfer is smoking, as this affects the blood supply to the grafted tissue and may be considered toxic to the graft.
Dr. Zurek has no doubt a patient’s own fat is the best filler. It is safer and carries no risk of reaction to a foreign material (artificial filler), with the additional benefit of skin improvement by rejuvenation from the “inside out”.
Furthermore, fat grafting or fat transfer is extremely cost effective. For example, the cost of a full face fat grafting procedure for our Woolahra patients is currently $5,000 plus GST, which involves injection of 30-50mls of purified fat, with say 50% of fat successfully retained as a permanent graft (15-25mls of volume). The cost of artificial filler is approx. $600 per ml, which equates to $9,000-$15,000 and lasts only several months, as well as often leaving some degree of tissue deterioration after prolonged usage.