LIPOFILLING

For the past twenty years or so, fat injections have been used to correct volume shortages in areas all over the body. This technique can be used in the face and all across your body.

The fat can be injected in your breast if you are not happy with its size (see breast enlargement with your own fat). It is also quite common to use fat injections on the face. This procedure has excellent results. Given the extensive experience with surgical facial rejuvenation in the Coupure Centre, this technique is used here on an almost daily basis.

When it comes to the aging of the face, three effects are clear:

• The skin becomes thinner and wrinkles start to form
• The skin begins to sag
• There is a loss of volume in parts of the face due to the breaking down of fat tissue.

 Rejuvenate your eyelids in a natural way

The aging of the face is almost always accompanied by a loss of volume (fat) in the upper and lower eyelids, the cheekbone area and around the mouth. The classic blepharoplasty used to involve the surgical removal of skin and fat tissue. In the long run, this often resulted in hollowed-out eyelids that were nothing like what the patient’s eyes looked like when they were young.

In recent years, Tonnard and Verpaele have developed a technique with which to rejuvenate eyelids more naturally: by injecting fat in certain locations to realise the same full look of the eyelids as when the patient was younger. In many cases, a small skin resection is performed at the same time. The results achieved with this method have a far more natural appearance than those of a classic “resection blepharoplasty.” This technique was published by the duo in 2013 in the prestigious Aesthetic Surgery Journal with the title “Augmentation Blepharoplasty.

What are the effects of the fat injections?

Around the cheekbones, we mostly see a loss of volume in the frontal area as people age, even in patients who have gained weight over the years. Once again, fat injections are used with excellent results.

Around the mouth, we often see “atrophic” changes. This means that a loss of volume is seen in e.g. the “nasolabial” fold (the fold along the transition between lip and cheek) and in the overall volume of the lips. Vertical lines on the upper and lower lips (known as a “barcode”) are also quite common. These issues can be resolved in various ways with fat injections.

What does the procedure look like?

The fat needed for a lipofilling procedure is extracted with a small tube (cannula) inserted into a minor incision in an area where you can afford to lose some excess fat. The fat is filtered and cleaned and then injected into the skin of the face or the area where it is needed through small holes.

In their new location, the fat cells must once again receive oxygen and nutrients in order to attach themselves to the surrounding tissue. Some of the injected fat will melt away over the course of three to four months after the procedure. When using Tonnard and Verpaele’s microfat grafting technique, circa 70-85% of the fat will be retained.

Where can the treatment be carried out?

Fat can more easily attach itself to the surrounding tissue in the face than in the chest, because the circulation is better there. In the face, the effects are better in immobile areas (e.g. cheekbones) than in mobile areas (e.g. lips). During the procedure, it will therefore be necessary to inject more material than needed (overcorrection) in certain areas in order to achieve the desired result after a period of resorption. However, we avoid this overcorrection in the face in order to achieve a natural-looking result.