The transfer of fat from areas where it is in excess to areas that could use a little bit of volume has been on the minds of plastic surgeons ever since liposuction started to be performed with a high success rate. When liposuction is performed, the plastic surgeon will remove fat cells from the areas targeted. The fat can be thrown away or used to inject it in other areas of the body that need the extra volume. When we combine liposuction with fat grafting in other areas of the body, the procedure is known as fat transfer or lipofilling. The transfer of fat can be made on any area of the body that needs volume, such as the face, hips, and hands, but it is more commonly used for the breasts and buttocks.
Fat transfer to the breasts and buttocks came after many decades when we had just the implants to offer patients looking for augmentation procedures. Fat transfer to add volume to the breasts and the buttocks offer natural results without the specific complications of the implants used for breast and buttock augmentations.
However, we need to mention two things that everybody should know about fat transfer to the breasts and buttocks:
- The procedures shouldn’t be performed in the same operation
To understand why this is not recommended and hardly possible, you should know that it is safe for the patient to harvest no more than six to seven liters of fat when liposuction is performed. This fat needs to be purified, and for this, we use a centrifugation process that eliminates blood, impurities, and damaged fat cells. This means that even less fat is left to be used for the transfer. Usually, we don’t have more than a maximum of two liters of fat to be used for the procedures, and if we split it between breasts and buttocks, there might not be much left for each area. Moreover, after the surgery is performed, the patient needs to avoid sitting or lying on the operated area for no less than three weeks. If fat is injected into both the breasts and the buttocks, resting can be very difficult for the patient.
- The procedures don’t provide the same level of augmentation as implants do
It is true that some celebrities that are famous for their behinds have gotten help from fat transfer, but it is often multiple sessions of fat transfers and not just one session. In one session of fat transfer to the breasts or buttocks, we can’t get a considerable augmentation. During the first two months post-op, the body will reabsorb about 30% of the fat cells transferred, and this means that usually for the breasts, a good result would be a fuller shape and half a bra cup size augmentation. For the buttocks, it is mostly correcting the shape and making the buttocks perkier.