Fat Grafting
Fat grafting, also known as fat transfer, is a new and different approach to refine your contours.
What is fat grafting?
Many plastic surgeons are helping women to re-purpose unwanted body fat to re-contour their breasts, buttocks, face, and even their genital area. This modern technology allows medical and aesthetic physicians to achieve beautiful and natural-looking results with fewer risks than surgery.
As we age, the dermis (the layer of skin under the epidermis) thins out, leaving a woman’s face and other body parts, such as the vulva, looking thin and hollow. At FBW Gynaecology Plus, we use fat grafting for congenital vulval abnormality, correction of perineal scarring and trauma, atrophic changes due to lichen sclerosus, and reversal of female genital mutilation.
How can fat grafting rejuvenate a woman’s genitals?
As women age, they lose fatty tissue from the face and breasts, and from the pubic area as well. Living as we do, in a time when women routinely shave and wax their vaginal area, the wrinkling and skin laxity they encounter can make them feel unattractive or self-conscious.
The loss of fat manifests in a sagging of the outer lips (labia majora) and mons pubis of the vagina. Also, the loss of natural padding along the pubic bone can even make sexual intercourse painful.
At FBW, we believe that fat grafting is particularly well suited to the needs of our female clientele. Fat grafting has shown promising results in the rejuvenation of skin in many other areas of the body, such as the face, buttocks, and breasts.
Stem cells are an important part of the maintenance and repair of the human body, keeping tissues alive and healthy. Research has shown that fat tissue is a rich source of stem cells that can be applied to different areas of the body and act to rejuvenate the dermis.
After removing fat tissue through liposuction, the harvested fat can then be applied to the external and internal genitalia. The fact that it can help with internal genital rejuvenation is a real breakthrough, as other methods are focused almost exclusively on external genitalia.
What happens during fat grafting?
During your initial consultation at FBW, our surgical team will review the fat transfer procedure in detail with you. At that time, they will also enquire about your general health, lifestyle, and any prior surgeries you may have undergone.
Depending on a patient’s preference, a fat graft can be performed under local or IV sedation anaesthesia.
Using liposuction to harvest fat, a member of our medical team removes cells from a donor site on the hip, inner or outer thigh, lower back, or lower abdomen. The fat is processed in a special centrifuge and then injected into the treatment area, called the recipient site.
What can I expect after a fat grafting treatment?
It takes up to four days for blood vessels to grow into and begin to accept the grafts after the treatment. Then another two or three days for those new blood vessels to become robust.
It takes two to three weeks for the cells surrounding the fat graft to reach enough strength to withstand minor stresses.
Most of our patients can return to their normal activities within one week, looking and feeling marvellous. However, all surgical and even most non-surgical cosmetic treatments carry some degree of risk. Possible concerns with fat grafting include:
- Swelling
- Irregular contours or uneven results from liposuction
- Hematoma
- Skin or fat necrosis
- Less than expected results
Click here to view an image showing how fat grafting could help you (warning potentially graphic image)
