We are often asked whether fat transfer is permanent. When fat is injected in a fat transfer, some of the fat will not survive. Results are permanent for the fat that survives the initial healing – but in a standard fat transfer, 50% of the fat initially injected can be reabsorbed by the body. This means that multiple procedures may be needed for larger volume changes. At Wood MediSpa, we offer fat cryo-banking to remedy this: only one general anaesthetic is required and any further volume increases or fine tuning can be carried out as out-patient procedures with reduced cost and faster recovery. We can also process the fat on-site at Wood MediSpa to achieve higher viability rates of up to 90%.

Fat Transfer at Wood MediSpa near Exeter

Once you have fully healed from your surgery, the new transferred fat becomes a stable fat storage. If you are at your stable goal weight and you are likely to continue at this bodyweight, your body is likely to retain the fat from this procedure. If you subsequently cycle through weight gain and/or weight loss, your breasts will act in the same way as any other fat in the body and with significant weightloss you will likely lose some of this volume as you would with any fat in your body.

Breast Fat Transfer

Whilst breast implants have an important place in the options we offer at Wood MediSpa, there is an increasing trend for patients to seek out natural alternatives. Many of our patients are now using their own fat as the natural way to restore volume in their breast. Fat transfer breast augmentations can achieve long-lasting, natural looking results by employing the power of fat grafting.

Breast implants are still a popular choice, but implants do also come with drawbacks including the need for replacement in the future. Some patients simply don’t like the idea of having an implant. Using your own fat instead of implants means that your breasts are 100% you, and there is no need for future implant replacement or removal surgery.        

Fat transfer breast augmentation, or “natural breast augmentation,” involves using liposuction to remove fat from areas like the abdomen or thighs, which is then purified and injected into the breasts to increase size by typically one to 1.5 cups. Fat transfer to the breast gives a very natural look and feel – using your own tissue creates a seamless result. The procedure requires sufficient donor fat and may necessitate multiple sessions to achieve desired, long-lasting results. If combined with fat cryo-storage, only one fat harvest is required and any further fat grafts can be performed as outpatient clinic appointments under local anaesthetic. This is staged fat grafting, and allows your surgeon to build up larger volumes of fat grafts over multiple procedures. Once you have fully healed from your surgery, the new transferred fat becomes a stable fat storage. If you are at your stable goal weight and you are likely to continue at this bodyweight, your body is likely to retain the fat from this procedure. If you subsequently cycle through weight gain and/or weight loss, your breasts will act in the same way as any other fat in the body and with significant weightloss you will likely lose some of this volume as you would with any fat in your body.

Breast Fat Transfer Cryo-banking 

If you are considering a fat transfer breast augmentation, click here to see information on cryo-banking your fat. This is service is optional, but can improve your procedure outcome.

Facial Fat Transfer

Some patients do not like the concept of restoring facial volume with artificial injectables (fillers) or implants. It is possible to utilise fat as a natural way to restore volume. With any standard fat transfer process, fat has a viability rate of approximately 50 to 70% – ie for every procedure, of the fat that is transferred only around 50% to 70% will survive the initial healing process and the remainder will be reabsorbed by the body. For small volume fat transfers in the face, we can process fat on-site at Wood MediSpa to achieve retention rates of up to 90%. This allows us to fine tune the fat transfer much more effectively.

Facial Fat Transfer Cryo-banking

If you are considering facial rejuvenation or facial fat transfer, click here to see more on cryo-banking your fat. This is service is optional, but can offer future opportunities to restore facial volume with fat harvested from your own fat stores. Cryo-banked fat has a high viability rate and enables further fine tuning of the result or further fat transfers in the future. Only one fat harvest is required (under general anaesthetic) and fat transfer can be carried out under local anaesthetic in a treatment room).

Body Fat Transfer

More information on Body Fat Transfer can be found on BBL. This also includes information on “hip dips”.

Gluteal Lipofilling (BBL)

If you are considering a BBL, click here to see more on cryo-banking your fat.  This service is optional, but can improve your procedure outcome.

At Wood MediSpa, fat is an important tool and resource. For many years, fat has been used successfully in many medical procedures. In many of our recontouring procedures, fat is removed or relocated as part of achieving a more balanced or more proportionate fat distribution. In breast augmentation, gluteal lipofilling and facial rejuvenation, fat is an important resource: fat is ‘harvested’ using liposuction and then transferred to the breasts or face to restore or create volume.

As part of fat transfer procedures, there is a limit on the amount of fat that the body can reabsorb. Consequently, a drawback to fat transfers is that in order to have larger volume changes (especially relevant in breast or BBL surgery), patients often need to undergo more than one fat harvesting session. Historically this means several longer, more complex operations with longer recoveries as this had to be done under a general anaesthetic for each fat harvest. Fat would need to be harvested and used in the same surgical session and any left over fat had to be discarded. This was time consuming for the patient as each time they required further fat harvesting they had to recover from the general anaesthetic and invasive surgery. We always seek to improve the patient journey, and so at Wood MediSpa we have opted to provide our patients with the option to cryo-store their harvested fat. 

At Wood MediSpa it is now possible to “bank” fat – after the first fat harvest, any further rounds of fat insertion/touch ups can now be done under local anaesthetic using stored fat. This eliminates the need for repeated general anaesthesia, the cost and inconvenience of multiple trips to the operating theatre and also reduces the complexity of staged fat transfer treatments. Patients now undergo only one fat harvest, and further fat transfer can be completed with simple staged reinjections as an outpatient. The potential to stage re-grafting in this way represents a significant benefit in terms of risk reduction, and improvements in quality of safety, care, outcomes and an improved patient journey with minimised post-operative downtime.

Staged Fat Grafting

Being able to “order up” your fat as needed, means you can have multiple fat transfers to your breasts, face or body, in a time frame that allows for healthy integration of the newly transplanted fat with the surrounding blood supply. This offers improved chance of fat survival and improved overall result. The ability to perform staged fat grafts in this way allows your surgeon to take a more conservative approach and eliminate the risk of overfilling in one session: instead, they can fine tune results under local anaesthetic. 

Improved Quality of Fat

Cryo-fat storage doesn’t just make the process more convenient. The processing results in higher quality fat: unnecessary fluids, damaged cells, and unhealthy tissues are removed, leaving only the most viable fat cells for better results. Consequently, future fat grafting will have a higher % retention rate of fat survival. Additionally, the processed and stored fat is smoother, more consistent, and easier to work with than freshly collected fat. 

Reducing Risks of Asymmetry

Not all fat survives the transfer – this is normal and to be expected. It does mean, however, that often multiple fat transfers are required to achieve the desired result. The other problem is that we cannot precisely predict the amount of fat that will survive or what distribution the fat will take. With an easy-to-access fat bank, any asymmetry can be corrected in a simple local anaesthetic outpatient appointment rather than requiring a full trip to the operating theatre and all the associated downtime and recovery.

Ask Your Surgeon

If you are interested in fat transfer or cryo-storing your fat, please discuss this with your surgeon at consultation.

Advancements in cryo-fat storage have revolutionised fat transfer surgery. It now offers a highly viable and effective solution for some patients.