Fat Graft Breast Augmentation
Breast augmentation procedures are among the most popular plastic surgery procedures year after year. That popularity continues to grow, even as alternative breast enhancement techniques become more common. One of the reasons for that continued growth may be the constant innovation that goes into making breast augmentation results look both bold and authentic. One of those recent innovations is a technique known as a fat graft breast augmentation, or a breast augmentation using autologous fat. This technique allows a patient to increase the size of the breasts using her own natural fat.
Traditionally, breast augmentation has been performed with saline or silicone breast implants. Breast augmentation using fat graft techniques is relatively new, but the results have been quite good—and quite popular. During a fat graft breast augmentation, the patient’s fat is collected using a liposuction procedure. The fat is then purified, and injected in the patient’s breasts in such a manner as to produce an increase in overall volume. Due to the techniques involved, surgeons have an excellent track record in terms of creating the overall size and shape desired by patients. By bringing this fat graft breast augmentation to their New Jersey area patients, the surgeons at East Coast Advanced Plastic Surgery will help patients feel more comfortable in their own bodies.
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Am I a Good Candidate for Fat Graft Breast Augmentation?
Because a fat graft breast augmentation is, in some ways, a combination of two distinct procedures, most of our candidates must meet the criteria for being a good candidate for breast augmentation as well as liposuction. As such, we suggest that our fat graft breast augmentation candidates meet at least some of the following criteria:
- Be generally healthy enough for surgery
- Desire an increase in the size, volume, or shape of the breasts
- Be a relatively stable weight
- Be acting under no undue outside pressure
- Have realistic expectations of what this procedure can accomplish.
Generally, our fat graft breast augmentation patients consider this procedure for among the following reasons:
- A desire to feel more comfortable in one’s own body
- A desire to change the proportions of the body (in many cases, clothing will fit better after surgery)
- A desire to eliminate areas of fat from certain parts of the body (often around the belly or thighs)
- A desire to have more symmetrical breasts
Candidates interested in fat graft breast augmentation can schedule a consultation to discuss the procedure. Candidates should come ready to discuss all prior medical history, including medications and family conditions.
The Fat Graft Breast Augmentation Procedure
Most fat graft breast augmentation procedures will be performed under general anesthesia, though sometimes surgeons and patients will opt for a local anesthetic with general sedation. These procedures are performed in a hospital or surgical suite setting where the patient can be constantly monitored. The first stage of this procedure is, of course, the liposuction. Once a site is selected for fat removal, a small incision will be made. As with other procedures that remove fat using liposuction, these incisions are minimally invasive, and a small cannula will be inserted in order to remove fat from the body. A predetermined amount of that fat will be collected.
Once collected, the fat will be purified, through a centrifugal process. Because the fat comes from your own body, there is no risk of allergic or rejection-based reactions. This allows the patient to avoid the testing required for silicone or saline implants. When the purification process is complete, the fat will then be injected into the breasts.
During the injection phase of the procedure, your surgeon will use multiple injection sites and carefully inject the appropriate amount of fat in order to make the breasts appear larger. This process may take several injections, while the patient is under anesthesia. Generally speaking, the injections are performed with a very fine needle, and only a small amount of fat is injected at a time in order to achieve the best possible results. Once the injections are complete and a brief recovery time is observed, patients will usually be allowed to return home the same day as the procedure is performed.
Recovery and Results
Recovering from the two phases of this procedure takes place at very different rates. It can take several weeks to recover from a liposuction procedure. The incisions themselves are minimally invasive, but the traveling of cannula causes swelling and possible bruising that can take some time to diminish. On the other hand, the recovery from the fat injections goes much more quickly. In a matter of days, patients are usually back at work. That being said, it’s important to emphasize, as with any procedure that uses autologous fat, the recovery period after the injections is crucial to getting your desired results.
Your surgeon will give you specific instructions to follow, but you can count on being advised to keep pressure or force away from the breasts for a period of at least three weeks while the fat “takes” to its new home. This will help ensure that as much of the fat as possible is turned into added volume for the breast. This will be an exceptionally important phase of recovery, so be sure to follow your surgeon’s instructions as closely as possible.
It will take several weeks for swelling to subside and for the final results of the fat injections and fat transfer to become apparent. Patients are overwhelmingly thrilled with the results of fat transfer breast augmentation procedures. Clothes fit better, their proportions are more in line with their body image, and many patients report a significant improvement in self-esteem and self-confidence. Results from a fat transfer breast augmentation are effectively permanent, so patients will likely not have to worry about more surgery years down the road to, such as the removal of implants. This, combined with the exceptionally natural look and feel of fat transfer breast augmentation procedure, makes this a popular option for our New Jersey and New York area breast augmentation patients.
If you are interested in learning more about how a fat transfer breast augmentation procedure can work for you, contact the highly qualified surgeons at East Coast Advanced Plastic Surgery to schedule a confidential consultation, and get the process started right away.
