For a lifted, curvaceous backside, or youthful, beautifully contoured facial features, fat grafting offers a natural and long-lasting solution. This innovative technique takes extra fat from your belly, thighs, or back, and transfers it exactly where you want it.
Our skilled surgeons at The Plastic Surgery Center of Nashville with HKB can precisely inject your own fat cells to your buttocks or face, restoring volume, and smoothing contours. A more natural alternative to synthetic fillers and implants, fat grafting can give you near-permanent results with minimal risks. Below, we’ll share how fat grafting works, its benefits and risks, what you can expect from recovery, and how to schedule your consultation.
What Is Fat Grafting and How Does It Work?
Fat grafting, also called fat transfer or fat injection, can increase fullness and volume to several areas in the body. At The Plastic Surgery Center of Nashville with HKB, our expert surgeons offer fat grafting to both the face and buttocks.
To perform the fat grafting procedure, your surgeon removes excess fat from one part of your body — typically the abdomen, thighs, buttocks or back — through a liposuction procedure. Then, this harvested fat is injected into the target area. During recovery, these transplanted fat cells develop their own blood supply, which allows your new look to stay permanent.
Common Areas Treated with Fat Grafting in Nashville
At our office , you can choose to receive fat grafting to your face or buttocks — two of the most common areas requested. Through the natural aging process, we can lose fat in areas we’d rather keep it. But, through fat grafting, you can regain your youthful curves.
Facial Fat Grafting
You may lose fat in your face as you get older, giving it a sunken-in look. If you choose fat grafting with us, we can fill out your face to renew a youthful appearance. Facial fat grafting can diminish wrinkles, add volume to your cheeks, and fill out your lips.
Buttocks Fat Grafting
Fat grafting in the buttocks is sometimes called a “Brazilian Butt Lift.” Like fat grafts in your face, this procedure uses excess fat from other areas of your body and inserts it into the buttocks. Because a larger volume of fat is used, this procedure is done under general anesthesia. Buttocks fat injections offer extra lift and contour to enhance your appearance.
Other common areas which can benefit from fat grafting include breasts and hips.
Who Is a Good Candidate for Fat Grafting?
Fat grafting can offer a youthful, voluptuous look to a wide range of people. You may be a good candidate for fat grafting in Nashville if you:
- Have good general health
- Don’t smoke (smoking can slow healing)
- Want to fill out your face or buttocks
- Desire fewer wrinkles
- Have realistic expectations for surgical results
- Possess enough excess fat for transfer
Not sure if you’re a good candidate for fat grafting? During your consultation, our talented team and surgeons can help you determine if it’s right for you.
Fat Grafting vs. Dermal Fillers: Which Is Better?
When you get dermal fillers, injects a gel-like substance into the areas you want to fill out. But, to keep up your look, you must get continued treatments. Fillers also carry more risks, like allergic reactions to the gel.
Fat grafting uses material from your own fat deposits and carries minimal risk of your body rejecting it. Because it uses your extra fat, your results will look more natural and last much longer. Compared to fillers, fat grafting is also more cost-effective.
How Long Do Fat Grafting Results Last?
Once fat grafts grow their own blood supply, they become permanent. Over time, though, natural aging changes can affect the graft, just like it impacts other natural fat around your body. With weight changes and continued aging, you may want to have a touch-up session in the future. These follow-up treatments usually require less fat than the initial procedure.
What to Expect During Recovery from Fat Transfer
After a fat transfer to either the face or buttocks, you can expect some swelling that may last anywhere from one to six weeks, depending on the transfer location. Fat transfer procedures are tailored to each patient’s specific needs and desires, and so recovery time can vary from person to person. At your consultation, our team will estimate how long a recovery to expect.
It can take up to 18 months for a fat graft to establish a strong blood supply, and so you may continue to see improvements in your look throughout this time. After about six months, most fat grafts have established some blood supply, which lets the fat cells plump up even more. From this time, you should notice a more full and contoured appearance at the grafting site.
Potential Risks and Side Effects of Fat Grafting
No surgical procedure is free of risk, and fat injections can come with some side effects. Because your own body tissue is used as a filler, the risk of allergic reaction is very low. Surgical complications include infection, bleeding, and asymmetrical results, but these side effects are uncommon. Your board-certified surgeon will discuss all potential side effects based on your medical history and take the necessary precautions to minimize your risk.
How to Choose the Right Surgeon for Fat Grafting
When you look for the right surgeon for fat grafting in Nashville, it’s important to consider these factors:
- Board certification
- Experience
- Consultation offered
- Your comfort level with them
Both our highly skilled and experienced plastic surgeons are board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and are fellows of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Mary Gingrass and Dr. Melinda Haws both have decades of surgical experience, making the Plastic Surgery Center of Nashville with HKB a sought-after practice for fat grafting and a myriad of other plastic surgery procedures. If you’re ready to realize your dreams and let your inner beauty shine through, call our office at (615) 270-6495 or contact us online to schedule your consultation today.