Full boarded in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Lipofilling is a surgical technique using the patient's own fat as a filler. Adipose (fatty) tissue is aspirated from another part of the body where it is in excess, centrifuged and then reinjected in the area of the body to be treated.
Making use of the latest methods it is now possible to use the fatty tissue as a permanent filler to correct many different types of defects, both in reconstruction and cosmetic surgery. Lipofilling can be used to correct localized tissue atrophy (e.g., as once occurred after an intra-muscular cortisone injection or post-radiotherapy), the loss of traumatic or iatrogenic substances (e.g., due to excessive liposuction in some points), or for body contouring (e.g., for filling buttock "dents").
A) Filling "dented" or empty areas:
- breast correction resulting from a quadrantectomy
- scarring resulting from accidents - surgical operations
- facial asymmetries
- body asymmetries
- improving body contour around the buttocks, breasts, cheeks, lips, smoothing out wrinkles
- rejuvenating hands
B) improving tissue trophism
Filling using pluripotent cells (such as stem cells), together with the adipocytes, creates a visible improvement in epidermal thickness and look.
It is especially recommended where skin damage results from radiotherapy or for hand rejuvenation treatment.
All surgical operations carry a minimum of unpredictability and risk
If lipofilling is done by an expert plastic surgeon, complications are rare and usually quite minor. Complications occurring in the donor site, a slight asymmetry in the immediate post-operation period, the appearance of calcifications ("rice grains") in the subcutaneous tissue should not be taken into consideration as they disappear in about a month's time.
Beginning from the week before the operation, it is advisable not to take any form of aspirin so as to avoid any problems of coagulation, and for smokers to stop smoking for at least 4 weeks (2 before and 2 after the operation). The operation is generally carried out in a day-surgery and it is essential that the patient is accompanied by a person who can later take them home and be with them in the first 24-48 hours.
The procedure of lipofilling takes 1 hour. The donor site incisions are about 5 millimetres long and after a few months can barely be seen. The fat is 'harvested' from the donor site by liposuction using a micro-cannula attached to a syringe and not an aspiration device. The fat is then ultra-centrifuged and reinjected into the recipient site.
Lipofilling is generally done under a local anaesthetic, and at the most a light sedation is used (for the more anxious patients).
Usually, only a very slight pain occurs and it can be kept in check with analgesics. If, however, it grows stronger, it is advisable to immediately inform your doctor. The stitches are removed about 7 days after the operation. It is then advised to use special compressive garments for the treated areas for about 30 days. Patients can begin normal activities again from the day after the operation, instead for sporting activities is better to wait month. Bruising may appear in the donor or recipient areas but it disappears after 15-30 days. Alcohol consumption should be avoided as it results in fluid retention.
Healing is a slow process that takes a few months. Generally, after 2 weeks, the world around you does not immediately realize you have undergone a treatment (as all signs practically disappear), however, the healing period is much longer. For example, the scars, before becoming a fine, almost invisible white line need at least 6 months and the fat injected will become soft in about 30 days.
Lipofilling can change your look and give back that lost self-confidence, but not necessarily change your look according to your wishes or change the behaviour of the people around you.