Info About Micro Fat Grafting to the Face – New York
Fat Grafting | Fat Transfer This female facelift patient of Dr. Andrew Jacono discusses her surgical procedure and her results that make her so very happy.
What is Facial Fat Grafting
Fat Transfer (Fat Injections or Fat Grafting) and Growth Factor Face Lifting is one of the most cutting edge techniques in plastic surgery in the past 30 years. Over this time multiple face-lifting procedures have been presented for rejuvenation of the face, most of them stressing the need for extensive surgery. What we have come to realize over this time, is that the face ages not just because of drooping (which would require a facelift) but also because of deflating and losing the natural volume in the cheeks, jawline, and under the eyes.
Plastic surgeons have been using temporary fillers such as Restylane, Juvederm, Radiesse, and Sculptra to add volume back to the face giving it a more youthful, rested and natural appearance.
The “Growth Factor Facelift” is a procedure that utilizes fat suctioned from the abdomen and then the fat transferred back into de-volumized areas of the face. The Growth Factor Facelift differs from fat grafting procedures of years past because the fat is processed after it is removed to maximize the amount of “Adult Growth Factors” present in the fat that we transplant. Adult Growth Factors are now known to be a source for producing other “hormone-like” substances to enhance both skin quality and the underlying subcutaneous- fatty tissues of the cheeks, the mid-face, and the skin in general. This procedure restores the youthful contour and shape of the face as well as skin tightness.
Facial Fat Transfer Patient 1: This 56-year-old patient is just 12 weeks following her facial plastic surgery procedures with Dr. Andrew Jacono. She was concerned about the aging of her face, forehead, eyelids, lips, and neck. Dr. Jacono performed a deep plane facelift, platysmaplasty, lower blepharoplasty, temporal lift, and lip lift. He also used fat grafting since she had significant loss of volume of the cheeks, temples, and lower eyelid tear trough/hollows. The fat grafts help to replenish soft tissue atrophy that occurs with age. She looks so natural but years younger and aesthetically balanced!
Facial Fat Transfer Patient 2: This 69-year-old patient pictured just 7 weeks after Dr. Jacono performed her facial plastic surgery on her. For this rejuvenation case, Dr. Jacono performed a deep plane facelift to lift the deep facial musculature, a plastysmaplasty for her platysma bands, a lower eyelift, temporal lift, fat grafting, and a lip lift. She looks absolutely stunning!
Facial Fat Transfer Patient 3: This 58-year-old patient is just 8 weeks after her plastic surgery with Dr. Andrew Jacono. She was concerned about aging of her face, forehead, eyelids, lips, and neck. Dr. Jacono performed a deep plane facelift, platysmaplasty, lower blepharoplasty, temporal lift, a lip lift, and fat graft. She wanted to rejuvenate her drooping cheeks, jowls, and hanging neck. While the facelift lifts the cheeks, she had significant loss of volume of the cheeks and temples. He replenished the soft tissue atrophy that occurs with age with fat transfer. We love how natural and refreshed she looks.
Facial Fat Transfer Patient 4: This beautiful 48-year-old woman photo’d just 3 months after her facial plastic surgery. She had a history of weight loss that resulted in extra sagging skin. To reverse these signs of aging, Dr. Andrew Jacono performed a deep plane facelift, necklift with platysmaplasty, a lateral temporal lift, fat grafting, and a lip lift. She had significant loss of volume to her cheeks, temples, and lower eyelid tear trough/hollows, so the fat graft was used to replenish soft tissue atrophy that occurs with age.
Fat Transfer Face Lift Patient 5: This wonderful 65-year-old patient only 7 weeks post-operative following her facial rejuvenation surgery with Dr. Jacono. He performed a deep plane facelift procedure to lift her jowls and dropped cheeks while smoothing out her nasolabial folds. He also performed a fat transfer to add volume back to the sunken areas in her cheeks, temples, and eyelids. To complete the overall rejuvenation process by smoothing her fine lines and wrinkles, laser skin resurfacing using the fractional CO2 laser was done. She looks amazing and so refreshed.
The “Growth Factor Face Lift” is a misnomer as it does not actually lift the face like a traditional facelift. It works by adding the fat back to the drooping cheeks, jawline, and smile and marionette lines. The face refills and lifts (like a saggy deflated balloon lifts as it is re-inflated) creating the heart-shaped face of youth instead of the square shape face of middle age. Additionally, fat can be injected into the deep circles under the eyes, creating the appearance of a lower eyelids lift without surgery.
Fat Transfer Growth Factor Face Lift Patient 6: This 65-year-old woman underwent a growth factor fat grafting to lift her face including the cheek, lower eyelids and jawline. You can see how the growth factors can affect the quality of the skin as the surface appears smoother and more rejuvenated.
For those with more advanced facial drooping and aging, endoscopic midface lifts, mini face lifts and eye lifts may be necessary. Although these lifting procedures reposition drooped fat into areas of volume loss, it is often necessary to combine a face lift with a fat transfer.
The Fat Transfer and Growth Factor Face Lift procedures are accomplished under local anesthesia in about an hour in the office setting. This is a procedure that avoids the need for a hospital trip and general anesthesia. Recovery time takes about a week. At the end of this time, light makeup is easily applied, and the results document an extremely natural, fully rested facial contour. The Growth Factor Facelift may also eliminate the need for ongoing facial “filler” injections like Restylane, Juvederm, and the other hyaluronic acid fillers. Sometimes the procedure needs to be repeated more than once because the fat and adult growth factors only partially take in the face where they are injected.
Fat Transfer Growth Factor Face Lift Patient 7: This 40-year-old woman underwent a fat transfer to graft growth factors to lift her face including the cheek and lower eyelids. You can see how the growth factors can affect the quality of the skin as the surface appears smoother and more rejuvenated.
