Fat grafting to the breast is not as popular a term as botox and liposuction but can be as effective as its counterparts. To women, having a full, rounded breast is as important as not having wrinkles on the face. While there are factors in a woman’s life that can cause the breasts to sag and lose its volume, there is also a solution that could bring the breast back to how it was during a woman’s youthful days. This is now what they call in the field of plastic surgery as the Breast Augmentation with Fat Grafting.
What is Breast Augmentation?
Breast augmentation or more commonly known as breast mammoplasty, “breast aug” or a “boob job” is the procedure that is responsible for the increase of the breast size through breast implants or fat transfer. This procedure not only increases the breast size but can also restore the breast volume after a huge weight gain or pregnancy. However, if fat taken from other parts of the person’s body is used to increase breast size or restore breast volume, it is known as fat transfer breast augmentation.
Who needs Fat Grafting Breast Augmentation?
The breast is one of the best assets a woman can have and making sure that it also looks good and is complementing her body shape is an important factor. Yet, not all women are required or allowed to have fat grafting for the breast for reasons of health or it is possible that she does not need the procedure anymore.
For you to know if you are one who needs to undergo the fat grafting breast augmentation procedure, the following are the conditions:
- You are in excellent and normal physical and mental health
- You have a realistic expectation and goal when it comes to the result of the procedure
- You are a non-smoker
- You have breasts that have become asymmetrical
- You have breasts that lost its volume and shape due to huge weight loss or because of a recent pregnancy
- Your breast is not balanced with the contours of your hips
- You have breasts that lost its fullness because of aging
Fat Grafting Procedure
Grafting fat to the breast involves two procedures. The first is liposuction and the second procedure is when the liquefied fat tissues are injected to the breast. Overall, fat grafting to the breast can take about 2-5 hours depending on the case of the patient. For these procedures, local anesthesia is usually used paired with sedation. Design- during the consultation the surgeon will analyze the patient’s breast in order to know what must be done during the procedure.
It is also in this stage that the patient is checked if she is qualified to have the fat transfer procedure to the breast.
1. Design- during the consultation the surgeon will analyze the patient’s breast in order to know what must be done during the procedure. It is also in this stage that the patient is checked if she is qualified to have the fat transfer procedure to the breast.
2. Anesthesia- Once the consultation is done and the patient is qualified for the treatment, the first step of the procedure is to administer the anesthesia. In this case, local anesthesia with sedation is used commonly.
3. Fat grafting through liposuction– Since the patient’s own fat tissues will be used for the breast augmentation, fat grafting is done through the process of liposuction. An incision or two of about 3-5 mm will be made on either the buttocks, belly, or thighs. Then, a stainless steel tube will be inserted in the incision and will remove the fats using a suction force. Once the fats that are needed has been removed, the surgeon will suture the incision and protect it with a bandage.
4. Centrifuge- When the fats have been taken from the patient’s thigh, buttocks, or belly it is inserted in a test tube like a bottle and put in a machine called a centrifuge. This machine applies a centrifugal force to the contents in order to separate the fluids that have different densities or to separate liquids from solids.
5. Extraction- After the collected fats have stayed in the centrifuge, the needed fats will be extracted from the bottle or the test tube to the injection that will be used for breast augmentation.
6. Breast augmentation- the last step is the breast augmentation proper where the collected and extracted fat tissues will be injected in the breast to restore volume, increase breast size or both.
Once you have had the procedure done, the recovery time will take only five days maximum and you can go back to your daily activities as well. As seen on the before and after picture below, the breast has significantly increased in size and volume after having the fat grafting breast augmentation procedure. Consequently, the results will not be that perfect at times because fat tissue survival after transfer has a 50-50 rate.
Around 50% dies, while the other 50% survives. There are also instances when the left breast absorbs more fat than the right breast resulting in uneven breasts. For this reason, this kind of breast augmentation procedure has to be done in several sessions depending on your consultation with your surgeon.
Pros of Fat Transfer Breast Augmentation
Just like all the other plastic surgery procedures in existence, fat grafting to the breast also has its benefits to those who undergo the procedure. The benefits of this treatment include:
- Increase in confidence level
- Post-pregnancy benefits
- Long-lasting effects
- Less negative reaction since the fats being implanted is from your own body
Breast augmentation through fat transfer can be beneficial to a lot of women especially those who have undergone a major life-changing experience like pregnancy or extreme weight loss. This kind of procedure is a mix of two famous plastic surgery procedures, namely, liposuction and the more commonly known boob job. Having this procedure done is like hitting two birds with one stone since you are reducing the fat in the area where you think is too full of fatty tissues while compensating the one lacking thereof.
The treatment may take a couple of hours because two procedures have to be done, but if you think about it as well as the benefits it brings, it is actually worth it. However, since fat tissues are not too stable when extracted, there is also a chance that during the first session, your goal will not be achieved a hundred percent. That is one of the downsides to this since you will have to have this treatment for several sessions in order to get your desired breast appearance.
Although, if you are not a fan of surgeries and implants that require long recovery times, then I would suggest that you have this procedure done. Always make sure first and foremost that it is done by a license plastic surgeon who is also undergoing continuous training and is updated with the latest techniques and methods used in plastic surgery.