Fat Injections

Natural Face & Body Contouring

Aging, significant weight loss and environmental factors can all contribute to a loss of facial volume over time and to issues of sagging skin in various regions of the body. Facial fullness and roundness are often associated with a youthful appearance, and the loss of volume can result in an aged, sad or even angry appearance. Facial volume loss generally occurs in the cheeks, nasolabial folds, eyes, and temple regions, and is most noticeable after the age of 40, although some individuals begin noticing this change in their 30s.

Restoring a fuller, more youthful facial appearance cannot be successfully accomplished through the use of facial creams or other over-the-counter remedies. Effective restoration of facial volume is best accomplished through the use of autologous fat injections, performed by a skillful and experienced plastic surgeon, such as Dr. Joubin Gabbay, M.D.

Dr. Gabbay is highly experienced utilizing autologous fat injections (also known as liposculpture, micro-lipoinjection, fat grafting, structural fat grafting and free-fat transfer) to resolve the problematic issues of facial volume loss and sagging skin for his patients, revitalizing their facial appearance, and enabling them to turn back the hands of time with this procedure.

Options for Fat Injections in Beverly Hills

Fat injection procedures involve the utilizing liposuction for the removal of excess fat from donor sites on the body (such as the abdomen, flanks, hips, or thighs), preparing and treating the autologous fat, and then re-injecting it into the areas of the face and body that are lacking volume and fullness. Utilizing autologous fat injections for facial and body volume restoration purposes is one of the most exciting and cutting-edge developments in the field of aesthetic surgery over the past few years. There is some evidence that such injections not only restore and enhance volume and shape to the face or other areas of the body but may even improve the skin in the areas injected. Volume restoration procedures have continued to rise in popularity, and are considered a key weapon in the battle to combat visible signs of aging – Particularly for patients in Los Angeles and Southern California.

Autologous fat injections can be utilized in a multitude of volume restoration and facial rejuvenation procedures, including:

Face Augmentation (Cheeks, Nasolabial folds, Tear Troughs, Temples, etc.)
Chin Augmentation
Lip Augmentation
Correction of Skin Depressions, Sub-dermal Attachments, and Scars
Hand Rejuvenation
Buttock Rejuvenation

Dr. Gabbay offers autologous fat injections to sculpt and revitalize your face and body, restoring volume to the areas which require it, and resulting in a naturally-youthful and refreshed appearance. If you would like additional information about autologous fat injections, please contact us today.

The world's big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.

- JOHN MUIR

Your Facial Features

The natural facial volume loss that occurs as we age can change the appearance of the face significantly. Fat injections are a simple means of restoring lost volume to the facial contours, thereby rejuvenating the entire facial appearance. Fat injections can be used to treat volume loss around the eyes, brow, lips, mouth, nasolabial folds, hands, buttocks and cheeks.

The soft tissues that overlay the bony framework of the face and body are comprised of three layers:

Deep Tissue Layer: The deepest tissue layer consists of muscles that are responsible for facial expression. All of the movements of your face are due to contraction of these muscles, and when they lose tone during the aging process, stretching and sagging occurs.
The Middle Tissue Layer: The fatty middle layer lies between the muscular layer and the skin. During one’s youth, facial fat is evenly distributed throughout the face; however, with age, gravity pulls the fat down, causing it to accumulate in the jowl area and under the chin, leaving a hollowness in the cheek region.
The Outermost Tissue Layer: The skin is the outermost tissue layer, and as we age, the skin loses elasticity, causing the formation of wrinkles, folds, lines, and creases.

Are Fat Injections Right for You?

Fat injections are useful for treating the aesthetic problems caused by facial volume loss and the breakdown of collagen and elasticity.

Some of the visible signs of aging that can be treated with fat injections include:

Brow furrowing
Deepening upper and lower eyelids
Loss of support of the outer angles of the eyes
Scleral show (excessive show of the white of the eye)
Fat herniation under the lower lids
Malar (cheekbone) groove depression
Malar sagging and drooping
Nasojugal groove (depression of the inner lower eyelid)
Deepening of the nasolabial folds and grooves
Drooping at the corners of the mouth (Marionette Lines)
Softening of the jawline
Formation of jowls
Loss of lower lip volume
Flattening of upper lip due to volume loss
Creases in the chin
Aging hands
Drooping/sagging buttocks
Flat or small buttocks

If you would like to correct any of the aforementioned cosmetic issues, you may be a good candidate for fat injections, which offer a number of benefits, including:

Recovering from the Procedure

Permanent results
Outpatient procedure
Because the fat used in the injections comes from your own body, there is no potential for an allergic reaction
Minimal discomfort during the treatment
Good option for individuals who are allergic to bovine collagen
Can be used in conjunction with other synthetic facial fillers, such as Juvederm®, Restylane® or Radiesse®

About the Procedure

Facial fat injection is a procedure that uses the patient’s own fat to treat facial volume loss in. The injected fat will not move or shift because it becomes incorporated as living tissue. Fat injections can offer permanent or long-term results and require minimal post-treatment downtime.

Fat injection treatment steps include:

Anesthesia: anesthetic options include: oral sedative, injections of sterile saline, Lidocaine, light IV sedation (Twilight), and/or a local anesthetic.
Fat Removal: the patient’s own fat is extracted (usually from the abdomen, inner knee, thigh, saddlebags, or hip) with a small hypodermic needle or a special cannula with limited suction. Whole, healthy fat cells produce optimal re-implantation results, which is why Dr. Gabbay manually aspirates the fat using a gentle hand-harvesting method that will not compromise the quality of the transplanted fat.
Fat Purification: the extracted fat must be spun in a centrifuge to extract excess fluids and to separate the damaged cells, leaving only whole, intact fat cells for re-injection. In some cases, other ingredients are added to increase the longevity of the treatment (ie. vitamin C, serum albumin).
Fat Re-implantation: using a separate, smaller hypodermic needle, the purified fat is slowly injected thru tiny skin incisions into the tissue of the recipient site using a micro-droplet technique to ensure smooth results.

Your Recovery Process

Following the fat injection procedure, you may experience mild to moderate bruising and swelling, the majority of which will subside within 24-48 hours. Restricting movement in the treated area for the first 3-5 days will give the newly injected fat cells a better chance of surviving. Within one week you will notice visible results from your fat injection treatment, and these results can be permanent. Some of the potential although rare complications of facial fat injections include adverse reaction to anesthesia, facial asymmetry, hematoma, infection, bleeding, swelling, bruising, fat necrosis, fatty cysts, blood clots at the treatment sites, and development of scar tissue.

Call us today at (310) 205-9500 to schedule your consultation with a member of our team!