Autologous fat transplantaion is an old technique, but
the development of methods of suction extraction and in
jection has given it new life. There is sufficient evidence
that the new methods result in viable adipocytes that have
the potential for long termsurvival.
This study included evaluation of autologous fat in
jection in 40 patients (30 females and 10 males). The in
dications were central cheek depression in 14 patients, dif
fuse age related lipoatrophy of the face in 10 patients,
exaggerated nasolabial fold in 6 patients, depressed trau
matic scars in 4 patients, rejuvenation of the hands in 4 pa
tients, and correction of the face in 2 patients with partial
lipodystrophy. All cases were done under local an
aesthesia except 6 cases that were donewith other surgical
procedures deserved general anaesthesia. Fat was har
vested from the upper outer quadrant of the hip, lateral
thigh, or the medial knee using sharp 13 gauge needle at
tached to 10 ml syringe and injected by a 16 gauge needle.
All cases were injected three times with 3 months inter
vals except two cases of exaggerated nasolabial fold and
one case of hand rejuvenation that approached satisfaction
after two injections. The best results were seen in the cen
tral cheek and nasolabial fold while the worstwere seen in
depressed scars.We can conclude that autologous fat in
jection is a simple, safe technique for soft tissue aug
mentation.used themfor reconstruction of a soft tissue de
fect on the face. In 1911 Brunning [2] was the
first to inject autologous fat into the sub
cutaneous tissue for the purpose of soft tissue
augmentation.
After the advent of liposuction, Blouz began
injecting viable fat obtained during liposuction
[3,4]. In 1986 Foumier [5] presented his mod
ification called microlipoextraction and in
jection by harvesting fat using sharp 13 gauge
needle and then re-injected into the desired re
cipient site. Since Foumier's description, slight
variations of the procedure have been described
by others, but the basic principles remain the
same [6]. Although questions about specific as
pects of the procedure remain to be answered,
fat transplantation will certainly become an im
portant soft tissue augmentation agent.
The aim of this work is to report our ex
perience with 40 cases for whomautologous fat
transplantation was done for soft tissue aug
mentation. |
