Among the new techniques of aesthetic surgery is lipofilling, which consists of extracting fat from the body and injecting it in certain areas where it is needed. It can be in the face or in the body.
What does the procedure consist of?
The technique is very important since this operation has been done for a long time, about 10 years, but it was performed with a different technique. Before, the fat was extracted by liposuction and injected directly. That is the reason why many of the fat grafts did not take because they were large quantities.
Nowadays, micrografts are used. The process consists of extracting the fat with low temperature and low pressure, especially so that the fat grafts are not damaged. Once it has been extracted, it goes through different processes: centrifugation, decantation and separation of pure fat cells from liquid. Then is when we obtain the fat cells and stem cells. This point is very important to clarify because these are the cells that are going to give the regeneration.
Then, in the third part of the technique, which is the fat infiltration, it is done with tiny cannulas, less than 2mm, and syringes of one cubic centimeter, one milliliter. These syringes cannot leave large grafts, but micrografts, which are the ones that will take 100%. Therefore, the fat graft that we have introduced will take, it will give us security and the result will be permanent.
What are the uses of lipofilling?
The lipofilling technique is one of the most used and most modern techniques in Plastic Surgery due to its versatility and natural results. It consists of extracting fat where there is excess in patients, therefore it is necessary to have excess in the abdomen or hips, which are the areas where fat is most frequently taken, and inject it in the areas where it is needed, both in the face and in the rest of the body.
Specifically in the face we use it to fill areas that have been depressed, either by the passage of time, by some disease or by aging, which has been shown to always carry with it a factor of fat atrophy. The areas where it is most commonly used in the face are the cheekbones, the nasolabial folds of the eyes, around the mouth and around the eyelids. It has the great advantage that, in addition to volumetric filling, the action of stem cells gives us a greater revitalization and regeneration of tissues, giving a much more lustrous and rejuvenated skin.
In the body, the breast area is very interesting, since all areas lost after pregnancy or weight loss can be reconstructed either with silicone prostheses or with fat. It does not take the place of the prostheses but it can help giving more naturalness by injecting it outside the prostheses. They can also be filled completely with fat, especially in people who have enough in the areas mentioned above.
And finally, in the buttock, it is very interesting, since it can be injected syringe by syringe until the desired result is obtained and not depend on the limits of a prosthesis. You can always use fat alone or with prosthesis, adding the fat outside the prosthesis, thus eliminating the circles left by the prosthesis and leaving a more natural result.
It is evident that it has a double advantage, which is to eliminate fat from the areas where there is excess, and to add it in the areas where it is lacking, therefore it is a great technique that we have today in plastic surgery.
Are there any contraindications, complications or precautions to be taken into account?
The most important concern is that there is enough fat in the patient. We must make an exhaustive analysis of the patient to locate the areas from which we will take the fat.
It is also very important the technique with which the micrografting is performed, so that it is done correctly and that it is sufficiently tight.