How Does Structural Fat Grafting Reverse Aging?
As you get older, your face becomes thinner. Mostly it is because you lose fat under your skin (subcutaneous fat), which usually adds volume to your face. When you lose this fat, you will notice huge changes in the way you look. You will have sunken eyes, wrinkles, hollow cheeks, fine lines, and droopy facial skin.
Rejuvenating your face with volume brings back a young, lively, replenished look. With structural fat grafting, you have the advantage of reversing aging naturally without getting allergic reactions.
What Is Structural Fat Grafting?
Structural fat grafting (also called fat injections, fat transfer, or fat augmentation) is a surgical procedure that transfers fat from one part of your body to another. The surgery aims to improve or add volume to the part of the body where the fat is inserted. Structural fat grafting can enhance sunken parts of your face triggered by age, sun damage, injury, illness, acne marks, and more.
Structural Fat Grafting for Jaw, Chin, Neck, and Upper Chest
Telltale signs of aging usually start to appear around your neck, chin, upper chest, and jaw. You may spot wrinkles, saggy skin, dark spots, or redness around your upper chest and neck as your chin and jawline begin to lose sharpness.
Structural grafting can take fat from your thighs, for example, and use it to restore volume to your neck, jawline, and chin. This will help add definition to your jaw and chin, reduce saggy skin, enhance your skin color, and remove wrinkles.
Structural Fat Grafting for Cheeks and Lower Eyelids
The cheeks and lower eyelids are common spots for structural fat grafting, fixing parts scooped in by aging. The procedure can replenish your cheeks and eyelids by restoring volume to your cheekbones to lift your face and reduce bulging eyes.
It can also fix a worn-out look by improving the skin color on your lower eyelids. If you have damage from acne wounds or facial injuries, structural fat grafting can reconstruct your face and, hopefully, give you a more natural appearance.
Risks and Recovery
Structural fat grafting has fewer complications compared to other procedures or implants. Risks are rare, but there can be certain side effects, including:
Bleeding and scarring
Swelling
Infections
Bruising
Injecting too little or too much fat
The time it takes to recover depends on the extent of the surgery. That includes how many grafting sites your surgeon used and how much fat was injected. Recovery in the grafting sites can last longer, with swelling lasting anywhere from three to six months before clearing up.
You might start noticing improvements in your look immediately after the procedure if the fat transferred successfully replenishes sunken areas. The results will continue to be more visible with time and as your body produces more collagen.
Is Structural Fat Grafting Right for You?
If you have lost facial volume and have enough fat reserves in other parts of your body, you may qualify for structural grafting. Contact your plastic surgeon to find out more about your options for the procedure.
For more on how structural fat grafting reverses aging or to schedule a consultation, call Aesthetic Surgical Associates at our office in Metairie, Louisiana at 504-226-8200 today.
