Your Guide to Fat Transfer Breast Augmentation

Are you dissatisfied with your chest size? While push-up bras can certainly work their magic, they certainly can’t change how your actual breasts appear.

Some people opt for breast implants to achieve larger cup sizes, but these may not be appealing to you. While they have dramatic results, they’re too much for your personal tastes.

Do you want something more natural-looking? Then consider fat transfer breast augmentation, which is also known as autologous fat grafting. This procedure takes your own fat to enhance your breast size, shape, and symmetry. The result is subtle and natural-looking breasts.

Interested in learning more? Then keep reading. We’ll give you all the details on this breast augmentation procedure.

How Fat Transfer Works for Breast Augmentation

There are three main steps:

1. Liposuction
2. Purification and processing
3. Injection into the breasts

Find out more about each step below.

Liposuction (Harvesting the Fat)

First, you and your surgeon will determine where you have stubborn excess fat and want it gone. This makes the surgery excellent for body contouring, as you can literally take unwanted fat and place it in your breasts. For example, you might aim for the:

• Abdomen
• Thighs
• Hips
• Flanks

Wherever you choose, your plastic surgeon will use gentle and safe liposuction techniques to extract fat for maximum cell viability. This is done through small incisions and a cannula connected to suction.

Purification and Processing

Next, they’ll process the harvested fat to remove impurities, like oil, blood, and damaged cells. More specifically, the fat is washed and filtered so that all that’s left is healthy fat cells.

This step is crucial since poor-quality fat cells are less likely to survive once injected. To maximize the survival rate, some surgeons use advanced processing methods, such as centrifugation or filtration systems.

Injection Into the Breasts

After the fat is purified and processed, the surgeon can then carefully inject it into multiple planes of the breast tissue for fat transfer to the breasts. Typically, they’ll use microdroplet techniques, which involve distributing small amounts of fat throughout the breast. This encourages better blood vessel growth, which in turn supports fat survival and better results.

As you might imagine, this is a time-intensive step since precision is key. If there’s too much fat injected into one spot, this can cause necrosis or cysts.

Recovery Time

What’s great about fat transfer breast augmentation surgery is that the downtime isn’t long when compared to traditional breast augmentation.

Most patients can return to light activity in 1 to 2 weeks, and you’ll see a noticeable difference in your breast size already. Initially, it’s common to see swelling, bruising, and soreness in both the liposuction and breast areas, but these will all subside as time goes on.

As the swelling subsides and some of the fat is naturally reabsorbed 1 to 3 months after your procedure, you might see a small decrease in your cup size. However, you should see the final results become more visible after 3 to 6 months. This is when all swelling should subside and the transferred fat stabilizes.

Results

In general, patients can get a size increase of 1 to 2 cup sizes per session. Because you’re using your own fat, this results in an extremely natural texture and feel; your breasts will be soft, and they’ll move naturally.

Limitations

We mentioned that some of the fat will be naturally reabsorbed, so you might be worried about the limitations of this surgery. However, have peace of mind knowing that once the fat cells establish blood supply, they’re permanent, meaning that the procedure’s results will stay for life.

Do note that this doesn’t necessarily mean that your breasts won’t change in shape or size. If you gain or lose weight in the future, this can affect your results.

You should also know that studies show a fat reabsorption rate of anywhere from 20% to 90%, so it’s a bit unpredictable how your surgery will go. Usually, surgeons will compensate by injecting more fat. You can also get multiple procedures done, especially if you want more dramatic increases.

Lastly, if you’re slim and don’t have extra body fat, you may need donor fat to complete the procedure.

Risks and Considerations

In general, this procedure is considered safe, but there are still possible risks. They include:

• Fat necrosis
• Oil cysts
• Calcifications (hardened fat)
• Asymmetry
• Reabsorption
• Infection and contour issues

You can minimize these risks by choosing an experienced board-certified surgeon who has extensive credentials.

Fat Transfer vs Implants

Fat transfer breast augmentation is better for people who want:

• Soft, subtle, and natural results
• Permanent results
• Little scarring
• Body contouring bonus

There are various types of implants, but typically, they give patients more dramatic results. The implants can feel firmer and look rounder and fuller, which are the characteristics that make them less “natural” in look and feel. In addition, there’s a small but visible scar from implant insertion, and the implants may require replacement, as they only last 10 to 20 years.

Who’s a Good Candidate for Fat Transfer Breast Augmentation?

With everything that’s been said, you still may not be sure if this plastic surgery option is a good one for you. Hopefully, the criteria for good candidates may make or break your decision. They include people who:

• Have enough donor fat for transfer
• Desire a modest size increase
• Want natural results without using foreign materials
• Want body contouring benefits from liposuction
• Are in good health
• Don’t smoke
• Have stable body weight

Think About Getting Fat Transfer Breast Augmentation

Fat transfer breast augmentation can be a wonderful way for you to get fuller breasts without striking results. Not only does this procedure allow you to get rid of stubborn excess fat, but it also gives you a more subtle and natural enhancement for your chest.

So if you want a small but noticeable change, consider fat transfer breast augmentation. It can be just what you need to achieve the ideal body without doing anything drastic.

To schedule a consultation for fat transfer breast augmentation, get in touch with us now. Dr. Valdez has over 17 years of experience and is trusted by patients from the US, Canada, and worldwide, as he has an expert team that includes a board-certified anesthesiologist and bilingual coordinators.