What it means for a patient
- A patient's own fat can be used to add volume to the face. The author considers it usually the safest material for this.
- According to the author, placement technique affects whether the fat lasts and looks natural.
- Loss of facial volume is part of aging, and restoring volume is one part of facial rejuvenation.
- This is one author's description of his method, with case reports. It does not compare fat grafting with other treatments and reports no measured results.
Why this paper matters
It sets out structural fat grafting as a way to restore or adjust facial volume. It states the conditions the author links to long-lasting, natural-appearing results: a blunt cannula, placement technique and modern instruments.
Overview
Plastic surgeons have used fat grafting through a blunt cannula to change facial contours for 100 years. The author states that a patient's own tissue is completely biocompatible and is usually the safest choice for changing facial volume or contour. He describes structural fat grafting and places it within a view of facial aging that gives weight to restoring or adjusting facial volume. The article is indexed as case reports. The abstract reports no patient numbers or measured outcomes.
Findings
- Fat grafting through a blunt cannula has been used to alter facial contours for 100 years.
- Autologous tissue is completely biocompatible and is usually the safest choice for altering facial volume or contours.
- Fat grafts can be placed so that they are long lasting, completely integrated and natural appearing.
- Advances in technique and instruments in the past 20 years allow predictable results.
- With these advances, fat grafting is a viable option for soft tissue augmentation.
- Understanding of aging and of rejuvenation methods has also developed.
- Rejuvenation and changes in facial proportion are now approached with attention to restoring or adjusting facial volume.
- The abstract gives no patient numbers or outcome measures.
Terms
- Structural fat grafting: placing small amounts of fat in many layers through a blunt cannula so the fat forms a supporting structure.
- Blunt cannula: a thin tube with a rounded tip used to place fat.
- Autologous: taken from the patient's own body.
- Biocompatible: accepted by the body without a harmful reaction.
- Soft tissue augmentation: adding volume beneath the skin.
- Facial contour: the outline and shape of the face.
- Facial proportion: the size relationships between parts of the face.
- Integration: a graft becoming part of the surrounding tissue, with its own blood supply.
- Case report: a description of the treatment and result in one or a few patients.