What is autologous fat grafting?

Studies now show that human facial aging involves several pathophysiological processes such as attractive atrophy of bones, ligamentous laxity, collagen loss, etc. However, the most critical and important facial soft tissue volume volume change that has been recognized for its importance in causing aging is the decrease in the volume of tissue loss in the upper and middle face and the accumulation of tissue in the lower face. As a result, minimally invasive procedures to increase volume in the mid and upper face with autologous fat facial grafting are becoming increasingly popular. While the traditional facelift with facial wrinkle excision improves soft tissue loss and deep facial wrinkles, it does not address the potential volume loss due to age-related fat atrophy. Now that fat grafting techniques such as Coleman, FAMI, and 3M3L are becoming more sophisticated, the extraction of autologous fat to supplement facial volume has become an important component of facial rejuvenation and rejuvenation. This procedure turns waste into treasure, killing two birds with one stone, and is technically safe. Fat grafting is very popular nowadays, not only in foreign countries, but also in China, which is currently showing a rapidly increasing trend. Even so, summarize the domestic and foreign academic conferences and literature found that there are several problems, now briefly summarized as follows: 1, the effect of autologous fat grafting there is a large variability in the survival rate of the reports I know of a low of 20%, as high as 80%, even if the same expert, using the same technology and conditions, do out of the clinical effect is not the same for each guest. Often, some have good results, while others have poorer survival rates. Therefore, the survival rate of the problem by the guests themselves, the surgical program and technical level and other aspects of the impact, but the most important is the guest’s own fat supply area and the conditions of the recipient area. 2.There is no quantifiable index for judging the clinical effect that can be easily promoted. Survival rate is often more subjective components, a lot of thick black segment of the big names say he did the survival rate of 90% or more. When someone questioned, he would say of course, when further explored, he would say maybe. 3, the third question is where the fat hit. Maybe some people will laugh, this is not simple, there concave there is a lack of, where to hit. This is the words of a traveling doctor and lacks the rigor of medicine. As we know, roughly speaking, the soft tissue of the face is divided into five layers, and each layer is also separated by vascular fiber bundles into some fat chambers and interstitial spaces. So when we inject fat, which layers should we add to in order to achieve good results. I believe this question has not been seriously considered by many doctors. We can’t inject based on experience and take it for granted. In fact, in the aging process, the deep facial fat shrinks much faster than the superficial fat, and the deep facial fat not only decreases in number, but also the fat cell volume becomes smaller. On the contrary, superficial subcutaneous fat cells tend to become larger in size. So facial lipofilling is mainly injected in the deep layer, supplemented by the shallow layer. 4, well, the next question is the face of each fat chamber in the autologous fat grafting, probably for how much injection volume appropriate. It is estimated that very few people have done such a detailed study. Combining my experience and referring to the international literature, it is roughly as follows: (1) Forehead between the eyebrows: two layers of injection. The average volume of forehead injection is 6.5mL, with a range of 4.0-10.0mL, and the average volume of eyebrow injection is 1.4mL, with a range of 1.0-4.0mL. (2) Temporal: the average volume of each side of the injection is 5.9mL, with a range of 2.0-10.0mL. two-layer injections are not recommended for injections under the deep temporal fascia and within the temporal muscle. (3) Periorbital: the average volume injected into the brow was 5.5 mL per side. The average volume of fat injected into the upper eyelid recess is 1.7 mL per side (1.5-2.5 mL). The average volume of the tear trough was 0.65 mL with an injection range of 0.3-1.0 mL per side. The average volume of the infraorbital region (lower eyelid/cheek junction) was 1.4 mL (0.9-3.0). The main injections were into the suborbicularis oris muscle, the anterior zygomatic space, and the SOOF layer. (4) Cheeks mid-face: the average volume of the malar muscle mid-face is 8.7 ml (1.0 – – 22.5 ml) per side. (5) Nasolabial folds: the average volume injected was 2.8 mL (1.0 – 7.5 mL). (6) Perioral: The average volume injected was 3.0 mL (1.0 – 5.0mL) for the upper lip, 3.7 mL (2.5 – 6.0mL) for the lower lip, and 1.3 mL (1.0 – 3.5mL) for each side of the marionette line. (7) Mandibular marginal zone: average 11.5 mL (4.0 – 27.0 mL) per side. (8) Chin: average 6.7mL (1.0-20.0mL). Fat grafting first began in 1893. In the last 20 years, with Coleman’s popularization of this technique, fat grafting has become indispensable for toning facial contours and improving skin quality. By transferring autologous fat, the aging face can be reshaped into a natural, relatively youthful appearance. When a person is young, the fat stored in the face is evenly distributed, with rounded lines and smooth curves. As a person ages, the subcutaneous fat is redistributed, resulting in atrophy and hypertrophy in some areas. Atrophy usually occurs in the forehead, temporal, periorbital, buccal and perioral areas. Hypertrophy usually occurs under the chin, lateral cheeks, and nasolabial folds. In addition, the upper and lower jaws thin, the lips become thin and straight or angular, and the forehead is too flat and loses its slightly forward curvature. Currently, although there are many methods of restoring volume, such as injectable fillers, such as hyaluronic acid, collagen, and cheek injections, are used to restore facial volume. However, the shortcomings of these are mainly that their effects are temporary, costly and have the potential for allergic reactions. Autologous fat transfer, comparatively speaking, is low cost, cost-effective, biocompatible, and for most people, an abundant source of fat. Fat injections are now generally recognized as safe with long-lasting results. More and more surgeons are agreeing with the use of fat injections to further add volume to the face. It is also agreed that fat injections have a higher survival rate in more static anatomical areas and a relatively low survival rate in areas of frequent movement. Again, it is important not to inject more than 0.1mL per site to allow for vascular re-growth into the fat and a high survival rate.