Breast Lipofilling
For fuller volume, enhancement, improvement of the shape and firmness, breast reconstruction or achieve symmetry of your breasts with your own fat.
Summary
- Sedation and local anaesthetic or general anaesthetic.
- Operating time about 1.5 hours.
- Daycase surgery or 1 night inpatient.
- Back to work in 1 week.
- Compression garment in liposuction area.
Breast Lipotransfer / Fat Transfer
Lipotransfer, or fat transfer, is a procedure that involves transferring excess fat from one area of the body (usually the abdomen, thighs or flanks) to another. The fat is placed in small beadlike amounts throughout areas of the breasts that have lost fullness, without the need for a silicone implant. During the consultation, we will ask you about the results you would like to achieve from the lipotransfer. This will help us to understand your expectations and determine whether they can be realistically achieved. If lipotransfer to the breasts is done as the only procedure, it can be preformed as a day case procedure with light sedation and under local anaesthetic. It is not painful because buffered anaesthetic solution and nerve blocks are used.
Why Breast Lipofilling
The aging process as well as breast-feeding, or a change in body weight can cause breast fullness and volume to diminish resulting in saggy skin and other signs of aging. Because fullness of the breast is a sign of youthfulness, a fuller, firmer breast is often the wish of many patients. Fatgrafting to the breast is using your own tissue (fat) in order to make your breast fuller, firmer, improve projection and also increase the size, as desired.
Advantages of Breast Lipofilling
- Silicone Breast Implants are not required.
- Your breasts will look and feel completely natural, soft and smooth.
- The fat removal process can help to contour your body (liposhaping).
- There will be less breast scarring as the fat is transferred by gentle injection.
- It’s natural and improves the appearance of your skin due to the stem cells contained in your fat. Even scars can fade drastically after fat grafting.
We will keep a close eye on you after your surgery and would normally see you for your follow-up appointments at regular dressing clinics every 2-3 days, 3 weeks and then 6 weeks following surgery, at which point your post-operative photographs will be taken.
Are You Suitable For Breast Augmentation With Fat Transfer
- Small breasts may have a negative emotional effect and limit your clothing choices.
- You’ll need to have some excess fat that can be removed by Liposuction.
- You desire only a modest increase in bra cup size (one to one and a half cup sizes) or a natural solution to breast asymmetry problems, tuberous breasts, or problems with existing implants (rippling).
- You’ll need to be realistic about the possible outcomes and multiple procedures may be required to get your desired breast volume increase.
- During the consultation, we will discuss your expectations – sometimes a combination of lipotransfer and breast implant might be the perfect procedure for you to get the look you want.
Breast Enhancement With Fatgrafting – The Operation
The procedure, known as autologous fat transfer, lipofilling or fat grafting, uses fat from your thighs, flanks or tummy/lower abdomen and implants it in your breasts. Breast enlargement with fat transfer is a delicate procedure requiring a very skillful surgeon like Dr. Stasch with years of experience in liposuction and the fat re-injection process.
Your fat is transferred as a living tissue graft and will continue to survive and thrive in the breast provided local biological conditions are suitable. If too much fat is transferred into your tissues, the fat will not survive and the outcome is not perfect. Your current breast size will determine how much fat can be safely transferred to them.
Dr. Tilman Stasch uses the best liposuction method for this procedure – called water assisted Liposuction (WAL) using the Bodyjet Liposuction machine with a sterile Lipocollector and the most innovative and worldwide established method for fatgrafting. He has been using this technique for almost a decade and regularly teaches other doctors in this technique:
- Using the Bodyjet liposuction cannula, fat is harvested atraumatically and removed from the areas where it is not wanted or in excess: in the thighs, waistline or the abdomen. Other areas for liposuction might include arms, back or lateral chest.
- The harvested fat cells, which have a high content of adult stem cells, are then collected without being touched at all in the Lipocollector. From there, Dr Stasch transfers the fat cells into special syringes for them to be transferred to the areas in your breast marked for augmentation in multiple layers and directions, achieving a very precise sculpting effect. This happens without leaving any scars with a special 2mm lipoinfiltration needle. Once in the breasts, these fat and stem cells will survive permanently as long as they grow their own blood supply – which is important for the post-op period: The breasts need to stay warm and no pressure may be applied.
After Breast Fat Grafting - Recovery
- You will be admitted on the day of surgery, and your length of stay depends on your recovery. Usually, you will stay in the hospital for the day only or 1 night.
- You will have a soft bandage dressing applied to keep your breasts warm and protected. No drains are used. The breasts will not be painful post-op.
- On the day following surgery, we will encourage you to mobilize gently. You will also be fitted with a special compression garment in the areas where the liposuction was done. You will be encouraged to wear this for 6 weeks following the operation.
- You will be mobile from day one and should be back to full exercise within 2-3 weeks. There won’t be any stitches. Most people have approximately 1 week off work following a breast fat grafting procedure, depending on the type of work you do.
- You may notice mild swelling at the treated area, accompanied by minimal bruising, for a week following the procedure. The majority of swelling subsides in the first weeks, but it may take up to 6 weeks for the treatment area to look normal. A few additional months are then necessary for the healing process to reach completion and the final result to appear.
We will keep a close eye on you after your surgery and would normally see you for your follow-up appointments at regular dressing clinics every 2-3 days, and 3 weeks and then 6 weeks following surgery, at which point your post-operative photographs will be taken.
What Complications Can Occur?
Whilst these operations are generally safe in the hands of a qualified and experienced plastic surgeon and regarded to be highly successful, there are, as with any operation, risks involved and the possibility of complications that patients need to consider.
Finding postoperative pain will vary from person to person, but this is generally not considered as a painful procedure.
Mammograms
Fat grafting to your breast can produce some changes to your mammogram including calcium spots being seen as a result of the procedure. These can occasionally look like the calcium spots seen in breast cancer and you may then need a biopsy of this calcium. Most of the time however the calcium spots look very different from those seen in breast cancer and can be easily differentiated by a radiologist without the need for a biopsy.
Smokers are strongly advised to discontinue smoking several weeks prior to surgery and after the operation, as smoking increases the risks of complications and delays wound healing by altering blood circulation in the skin. You can reduce your risks of complications by closely following our instructions before and after the surgery.
Cost of Breast Enlargement with Fat Grafting
The cost of breast enlargement with fat grafting surgery depends on your circumstances and the technique we will perform.
For more information on breast enlargement with fat grafting costs, we invite you to book a consultation session with Dr Stasch. During this confidential appointment, we can discover more about what you would like to achieve and find out if breast enlargement with fat grafting surgery is right for you.
Breast Fat Grafting FAQ
The transferred fat must develop a blood supply before it becomes viable tissue in its new area. If not done correctly, then blood vessels may not reach the fat cells and most, if not all, of the fat will dissolve.
Utilizing Dr Stasch’s gentle technique, we can say that most patients have a large degree of permanence in the areas treated. However, factors such as each patient’s skin type, healing abilities, and other variables like smoking and changing body weight contribute to the degree of permanence. We inform patients that usually one treatment is effective. When touch-up procedures are performed within one year after the original procedure, the fee is less than for the first procedure.
As a patient, you should expect an increase in the breast size of approximately one to one and a half cup sizes from the fat stem cell transfer. Should a greater increase in the breast size be desired, the same procedure might have to be repeated.
Yes we do. In fact, we have many clients coming for Breast Fat Grafting from Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana, South Sudan, Congo and other countries from around the world.
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