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Posted on January 27, 2022
Thanks to advanced technology, you can now use your own fat to treat problematic areas of your body. Interestingly, fat transfer or fat grafting helps you fight baldness, too.
But how exactly does a fat transfer procedure do this? Are there any risks involved? How much does it cost?
In this article, I will explain how fat transfer can help you, in terms of appearance and baldness. I will also enumerate the risks associated with the procedure. On top of that, I will tell you how much fat transfer costs.
Fat grafting, also called fat injections or fat transfer, involves transferring fat from one area of the body to another area.
The goal of this procedure is to improve the target area (e.g. buttocks, face, scalp).
Its other aim is to remove unwanted fat from a part of your body like the buttocks or thighs and use it to improve the size of another part like the breasts.
As its name implies, fat transfer involves getting fat from one part and placing it on another.
Some patients consider fat injections for their safety and effectiveness.
In particular, the fat can be reinjected to improve contours, enhance facial fullness, or fill creases.
Fat injection requires a more complicated procedure than tissue fillers.
First, a donor area must be determined (e.g. abdomen and buttocks). Then, the doctor uses liposuction to extract the fat. The suctioned fat can then be transferred to the face as a graft.
The fat then must redevelop a blood supply for it to last. About 50% of the injected fat will survive. The surviving fat will last forever.
In particular, a cosmetic doctor harvests fat from one part of your body. Next, the doctor and staff wash and purify the fat.
After this, the cosmetic doctor carefully reinjects the said fat with specially designed needles into the areas that need augmentation. Your cosmetic doctor may need to do the fat grafting procedure several times to reach your desired goal.
Here’s what usually happens during the three-stage process:
1. Harvesting
You and I will select a site for fat removal. I will then administer a local anesthetic. After this, I will create a tiny incision in the target area for fat removal. Then, I will insert a cannula connected to a syringe to carefully extract the fat.
2. Purification
Once enough fat is obtained from the donor area, I will process it.
First, I will prepare the fat cells for transfer to small syringes that will be used for fat injection. Then, a centrifuge may be used during the purification process. The machine spins the fat or a filtration process to remove impurities prior to injection.
3. Placement
The target area will then be prepared. I will insert a cannula or needle into the incision point.
Then, I will pass the said needle in and out of the target area. Every time I withdraw the needle, a line of fatty tissue gets deposited in natural tissue.
This process will be done again until the desired correction has been achieved.
Doing this creates a grid of grafted fat. I may also place a dressing or bandage over the grafted area.
Hair loss doesn’t just affect 50% of men, 45% of women can experience it, too.
Thankfully, you can now use your fat stem cells, harvested from an area of excess fat, to solve balding.
In particular, reinjecting your fat cells to repair or regenerate the scalp tissue will stimulate the production of hair growth.
Fat transfer offers all the advantages of traditional liposuction without the drawbacks. As a more quick and convenient option, your fat will be removed via soft liposuction.
Aesthetic surgeons like me perform the liposuction under local anesthetic without the need for downtime.
What is innovative about this treatment is that instead of throwing away the fat after liposuction, the fat will be reinjected into your scalp. You also don’t have to worry about rejection as the fat is made of your own cells.
Fat transfer helps fight baldness, a common problem among men.
This regenerative technique began a few years ago with PRP (platelet-rich plasma) treatments. The procedure involves taking blood from the patient, isolating stem cells from the plasma in the blood, and injecting the cells into the patient’s scalp to treat hair loss and thinning.
However, fat contains a thousand times more stem cells and growth factors than plasma. Moreover, stem cells typically exist in a dormant state.
By performing liposuction and activating the stem cells, a doctor can use regenerative cells to repair and stimulate tissue growth in the scalp. For this reason, a combination of liposuction and stem cells becomes a more effective method to boost hair growth, while getting rid of stubborn fat.
In addition, fat injections become suitable where hair transplant surgery cannot be performed due to not having enough hair donors.
Here’s what you usually need to do before and after a fat transfer procedure:
Your fat grafting procedure may be performed in one of the top skin clinics in London.
The length of your procedure depends on how much fat is to be removed and the number of target areas.
First of all, you will be placed under anesthesia. For your safety during the procedure, various monitors are used to check your heart, blood pressure, pulse, and the amount of oxygen circulating in your blood.
You may be dressed using a compression garment at your liposuction site to help shrink the skin. The target area may feel sore, as if you just had a vigorous workout.
During a fat transfer procedure, you need to be put under anaesthesia.
You can expect the areas to which the fat was transferred to appear softer and fuller. This can give you a refreshed and rejuvenated appearance. You may even notice an improvement in skin texture. This can also help you with hair growth.
The survival of the fat and longevity of the results depend on the doctor’s skills, how the fat was harvested and purified, and how and where it was injected.
To be performed successfully, fat grafting requires a cosmetic doctor with highly developed skills based on experience and knowledge of the technique.
After about six months, the remaining fat cells should last a lifetime. Patients may want to consider additional treatments such as laser resurfacing, dermal fillers, and Morpheus8 to continue looking youthful.
When done successfully, the injected fat establishes a new blood supply from your body and receives the nourishment it needs for survival. When this happens, results can and often become permanent. However, there may be a percentage of fat that won’t survive, which is why touch-up procedures sometimes become necessary.
Fat transfers seem almost too good to be true, but they really do work. I take a number of steps during any transfer treatment to ensure that the patient has a successful outcome. I transfer a little more fat than is necessary, for example, because I know that not every fat cell will thrive in its new location.
Frequently, 20% to 25% of the transferred fat doesn’t take hold in its new location. As a result, it gets flushed from the body.
So by transferring a little extra, I can ensure that the patient gets the results they’re looking for. I also treat the fat gently as it is removed and transferred. By doing this, the fat stays as healthy as possible.
During facial fat transfer, small amounts of fat are removed from your abdomen, buttocks, or thighs. The cells are purified, then injected into targeted areas of your face, where they integrate with existing adipose tissue and become a permanent part of your facial anatomy.
Once recovery is complete, you can expect noticeable changes in tissue volume. Since the fat cells have been physically redistributed, the results often become permanent.
Fat transfer really works and can give you a lot of life-changing benefits.
Fat transfer is a generally safe procedure when performed by an experienced and board-certified plastic surgeon.
Training, credentials, and experience are critical when performing fat transfer or fat grafting. An excellent surgeon understands the importance of choosing, handling, processing, and transferring the right fat. They will also use proper surgical techniques to provide the best and safest results.
Fortunately, significant complications from fat grafting don’t occur frequently.
However, just like any procedure, fat grafting comes with risks. Here are the common side effects associated with fat transfer:
You can minimise the risks by following the advice and instructions of your board-certified plastic surgeon, both before and after your fat transfer.
Fat transfer might produce minor, temporary side effects.
The cost of a fat grafting procedure varies depending on the doctor, kind of facility, area, and the fat grafting technique used.
Take note that the numbers I will mention only reflect the doctor fees and do not include fees for the surgical facility, anesthesia, medical tests, prescriptions, surgical garments, or other miscellaneous costs related to fat transfer.
Since fat grafting is elective cosmetic surgery, health insurance plans do not cover these costs.
In the UK, a fat transfer or fat grafting procedure typically costs somewhere between £2,000 and £8,000. The exact cost highly depends on the type of procedure and the size of the target area.
There may be additional costs for consultations, aftercare, and any extra treatment sessions you need.
Furthermore, you must remember to choose your surgeon based on quality, training, and experience—not cost. High-end doctors usually charge more, but their services are worth it.
Do you want to fight baldness and improve your overall appearance through fat transfer? Book a consultation with a reliable, experienced cosmetic surgeon now!
