Facial Fat Grafting Treatment Areas

Plastic surgeons have been using a patient’s own fat for aesthetic purposes—a technique called fat grafting or fat transfer—for decades. I use facial fat grafting to enhance my Nashville patients’ facelift results and as a natural alternative to facial fillers.

How Does Fat Grafting Work on the Face?

Fat is an excellent filler to treat age-related volume loss in the face. Gravity-related changes are typically addressed with “lifting” procedures, such as a facelift, brow lift, or eyelid surgery. Fat grafting, on the other hand, adds fullness and volume to areas of the face that have become sunken, flat, or hollow-looking.

When performed by a provider with extensive knowledge of facial anatomy—such as a facial plastic surgeon—fat grafting produces soft, natural-looking results that last for many, many years. Fat transfer is very versatile, from restoring a more youthful appearance to the hands or rejuvenating facial fullness to subtly augmenting the breasts or buttocks.

The fat grafting process involves 3 steps:

• Extracting fat from an area of the body where it’s not wanted, usually the abdomen, flanks, or thighs
• Spinning the fat in a centrifuge to separate the fat cells from impurities
• Injecting the fat into the treatment area

A local anesthetic with light sedation is used for removing the fat with liposuction. A fat grafting procedure typically takes about an hour.

Treatment Areas

We use fat in many areas of the face where volume loss can make a patient look older than they feel. Fat grafting can also be a substitute for lip fillers. The most common facial fat grafting treatment areas include:

• Forehead, brow, temples
• Glabella (vertical worry lines often called “the 11s”)
• Under the eyes (tear troughs)
• Lips
• Cheeks (buccal fat)
• Nasolabial folds
• Chin and jawline

Start With a Consultation

If you want to learn if you can benefit from fat grafting, request a consultation using the online form or call our office at  (615) 942-8016 to schedule an appointment and we can discuss your specific concerns.