At Dr. Karol A. Gutowski’s plastic surgery center, fat transfer lets patients take fat from one area where there is an excess and move it to an area where they want more. If you are planning a liposuction session but don’t want the fat to go to waste, the procedure repurposes the living tissue in the face or body to add natural volume. Dr. Karol A. Gutowski has performed thousands of these procedures in Chicago, IL, and has even helped write the national safety research behind them.
The fat removed during liposuction is often discarded after the procedure. However, this fat is living tissue that can be moved and used elsewhere in the body, and because the material is autologous, or coming from you, your body accepts it as its own. With this type of treatment, there are no synthetic implants or materials that eventually need to be replaced, and the body will not have any negative reactions to the substance.
Fat transfer procedures provide two benefits at the same time. As the fat is removed from an area where you would like less, the donor area is contoured. The most common areas are the thighs, flanks and abdomen, where there tends to be larger amounts of this unwanted fat, but it can also be removed from smaller areas like the chin, neck and arms. Next, the fat is added to areas that have lost their volume, like the face or breasts.
When choosing a surgeon for fat transfer, it is important to find someone whose methods are grounded in research and experience. Dr. Gutowski chaired the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Fat Graft Task Force, the group that reviewed the medical literature and built the evidence-based recommendations that plastic surgeons across the country rely on to perform these procedures.
Dr. Gutowski’s work on the applications and safety of autologous fat grafts was published in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. At our practice, you are being treated by the surgeon who helped define the standards used today.
During the aging process, the face loses the volume that keeps it looking full and youthful. Fat pads in the face decrease, or they descend into less ideal parts of the face, like under the eyes or on the jawline. Fat transfer is used to replace this lost volume, most often used in the cheeks, temples, lips and hollows under the eyes. The results move just like the original tissue and look and feel like your own face. Dr. Gutowski uses this as part of the practice’s R3 method of facial rejuvenation: relaxing wrinkles, revolumizing lost fullness and resurfacing the skin.
When women want a more modest increase in breast size than an implant provides, fat transfer may be the best option. Once the fat is removed from an area like the flanks or abdomen, it is layered into the breast tissue. The results of this procedure are more subtle than breast implants, but can help to improve the overall shape and volume of the breasts while still looking natural.
The hands show age more quickly because of sun exposure and loss of fat. Loss of volume makes veins and tendons stand out. While this can be treated with dermal fillers, fat transfer provides longer-lasting improvements, adding a cushion of your own tissue back into the hands to help veins and tendons disappear.
A Brazilian Butt Lift uses grafted fat to reshape the buttocks and add more volume where desired. The result and safety of this treatment depend on where the fat is placed. Always choose an experienced, board-certified plastic surgeon who knows how to place the fat in the subcutaneous layer.
Fat transfer starts with the consultation, where we look at all of the possible donor areas and recipient areas closely and talk about the shape you are hoping for. We will set an appointment for the fat harvesting and grafting process, where we use liposuction to collect the fat. Sometimes, this can be done while you are awake with local numbing, or it may require general anesthesia.
The collected fat is purified to separate the healthy fat cells from fluid and cells that were damaged during removal. Dr. Gutowski injects the fat in small amounts to carefully layer the fat and create natural-looking results. This method also gives the fat better contact with your blood supply and helps more of it to survive.
Recovery involves two different areas since both the donor site and the treated site need time to heal. You can expect swelling and bruising in both. In the first weeks, the treated area will look fuller, but the body will eventually reabsorb a certain portion of the transferred fat. This is an expected process, and one that Dr. Gutowski considers when deciding how much fat to inject. You can return to your everyday activities within a couple of weeks, depending on how many areas we treated, and you may be expected to wear a compression garment.
Results from fat transfer are long-lasting, but not fully permanent. Some of the fat is naturally reabsorbed within the first several months. The fat that survives will establish a blood supply and stay as living tissue, and will behave just like the fat around it. Because of this, it is still subject to all of the natural processes of the body, including weight loss and aging, which can decrease volume over time.
Fat transfer can be combined with other procedures if you are looking for more extensive changes. For example, fat transfer to the breasts may follow a breast lift so as to correct both the position and volume of the breasts during one treatment plan. The specific combination of procedures will depend on the areas you are hoping to address.
Whether the fat can be reused after liposuction depends on the technique used during removal. Some liposuction methods are more damaging to the fat cells and do not produce good grafting material. When we want to extract cells to use in fat grafting, we use gentle methods that keep the cells intact and refine the samples carefully before reinjecting them.
Overfilling an area can sometimes limit the access of grafted fat to the blood supply and reduce how much of the fat survives. The technique is more important than the amount of fat injected.
A single session is often enough for most patients to see the volume increase that they want in the treated area. Sometimes, additional sessions can help to refine the results once the fat has established itself. We will let you know what to expect when you come in for your consultation.
Transferred fat behaves like the fat already in that area. If you gain weight, it can grow, and if you lose weight, it can shrink. Staying at a stable weight helps your results hold steady over the long term.
This depends on how much donor fat you have available and your overall plan. Some patients treat one area while others address several in a single visit. Dr. Gutowski will cover this with you during your consultation.
Fat transfer is an option between implants and dermal fillers. It uses no synthetic material, such as silicone, so there is nothing that can rupture and no risk of your body forming hard scar tissue around a device. However, it will produce more subtle results.
Compared with injectable fillers, fat transfer involves one harvesting and placement session, while fillers need to be repeated every few months to maintain the new look. Fillers still have their place for smaller touch-ups, and you can explore our injectable options if that fits your goals better. The right choice comes down to your body and what you want to achieve.
You may be a good candidate if you have enough fat in at least one area to serve as a donor site. A stable weight helps too, and we will recommend that you are at or close to your ideal weight before beginning this treatment. Realistic expectations matter as well, both about the subtle nature of the change and the possibility of a future touch-up session. Some patients need extra evaluation before breast fat grafting, such as those with a strong family history of breast cancer, and we will discuss this openly with you during a personal consultation.
Fat transfer is a personal decision, and the right plan starts with a conversation about your goals. At our Glenview office serving Chicago and the North Shore suburbs, Dr. Karol A. Gutowski and our team will walk you through your options. Call us at 847-906-1527 or reach out through our contact page to schedule your consultation.
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