Having confidence in the way you look is important, especially for those who work in industries where presentation plays a big role. Cosmetic techniques offer people of all walks of life a means of achieving their aesthetic goals. If you wish to enhance the shape of a certain area of the body or reduce the signs of aging, you may be an ideal candidate for a technique called the autologous fat transfer.

If you are looking for facial rejuvenation, butt enlargement, or breast enlargement without implants or artificial fillers, fat grafting may be able to help. In  fat grafting, fat is removed from parts of your body where you do not want it, such as the hips, thighs, or tummy, and is placed where you do want it, to replace volume lost in the face or to enlarge your breasts or buttocks. Fat grafting is not for everyone, but for those who are good candidates, it can give very good, essentially permanent results using only your natural tissue.

This page contains basic information about  fat grafting, but the best way to learn whether you are truly a candidate is to be evaluated in person by one of our board-certified plastic surgeons. To schedule your micro fat grafting consultation at one of our Atlanta-area offices, please contact Marietta Plastic Surgery today.

Benefits of Fat Grafting

Fat grafting has long been used, but is growing in popularity. In the technique, fat is removed from undesired fat deposits using liposuction. The fat is then treated and injected into the desired areas in many small grafts, making the area plumper.

The benefits of fat grafting are:

  • It uses only your natural tissue
  • Can give very natural-looking results
  • Can give permanent results

The signs of aging can be pervasive and can affect each individual in different ways. One of the major issues with aging is that the skin has a tendency to lose volume. Losing volume around the face is common and can leave you with hollow cheeks and a generally gaunt appearance. This loss of facial volume can be especially pronounced around the eyes, cheeks and jawline. Fat grafting is an effective facial-rejuvenation technique.

Fat grafting for breast enlargement or butt lift is a good option for women or men who want to see an improved contour but are hesitant about using an artificial implant. In a sense, fat grafting can give patients an opportunity to achieve two aesthetics goals in one technique – it offers body sculpting by removing fat from areas where there is commonly excess, such as the stomach and thighs, while enhancing another area of the body. And the potential for essentially permanent improvement makes fat grafting better for facial rejuvenation than artificial dermal fillers that generally last only about six months per treatment.

Fat grafting can be an especially good option for those who wish to achieve facial or body contouring but want to avoid surgical incisions. Fat grafting is a minimally invasive method where fat is injected.

Fat grafting has become an especially exciting technique for use in breast augmentation and the Brazilian butt lift. With breast augmentation, fat grafting has proven to be a viable alternative to breast augmentation with implants.

Disadvantages of Fat Grafting

On the other hand, fat grafting does have some disadvantages that must be taken into account for people considering the procedure.

These disadvantages include:

  • May take multiple treatments to achieve desired results
  • Enlargement of breasts and butt may be less than with breast implants or buttock implants
  • For breast enlargement, side effects of grafting may obscure mammogram results

During your consultation, we will talk about these potential disadvantages and our experience with them.

The Ideal Candidate for Fat Grafting

For the right candidate fat grafting is a great procedure that can give permanent, natural-looking results. The ideal candidate for fat grafting is:

  • In good general health
  • Is a non-smoker
  • At or near his or her ideal weight
  • Has a suitable donor region
  • Has realistic expectations for the procedure

Not meeting all of these characteristics does not necessarily disqualify you as a candidate, but it may either increase your risks or decrease the quality of results you experience. We will listen to your medical history and perform an evaluation during your consultation so we can give customized recommendations.

Why Choose Marietta Plastic Surgery

One of the characteristics of micro fat grafting is that the success of the procedure varies widely among individual surgeons. For reasons that are not fully understood, the subtleties of a surgeon's technique make a big difference in the quality of results. This means that you should work with a plastic surgeon who has a history of successful fat grafting procedures, like those at Marietta Plastic Surgery. We can talk to you about our experience with the technique and show you some of the great results we have achieved for patients in the Atlanta area.

To learn whether you are a good candidate for fat grafting, please contact Marietta Plastic Surgery today.