Facial Fat Grafting: Feed the Fat

An alternative to filler for volumization of the face is fat transfer, where we take a small amount of fat from usually the belly or thighs, and inject the fat the same way we would filler. Fat transfer is nice because it’s your own tissue, and a portion of the fat transfer can last for a very very long time. However, fat transfer is not so great in the sense that there is an unpredictable amount of volume loss, anywhere from 40-60% of the fat cells do not survive.

I wanted to highlight two studies that have just come out have data to suggest that high fat, high carbohydrate diets in the month before and month after your surgery can actually improve the quality of the fat transferred, and actually cause more of the transplanted fat to survive. They think this might be due to a greater number of blood vessels that sprout and feed the fat transplant. These studies were only done in mice though, and so more research needs to be done to know if this is actually helpful.

However, for anyone getting a fat transfer, I would recommend considering adding healthy fats such as avocado, nuts, and olive oil as well as complex carbohydrates such as beans, whole grain bread, oatmeal, and starchy vegetables to boost the fat’s chances of survival.