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Less Invasive Surgery > Fat Injection

Fat injection, also known as fat grafting, autologous fat transplantation, and fat transfer, entails injecting fat obtained by liposuction from the lower abdomen into other parts of the body to fill in depressions and grooves.

The liquefied liposuction fat aspirate is loaded into a syringe and then injected through a blunt needle, or cannula. It can be put almost anywhere other than on the eyelids and can even be used to augment the breast (although this practice is controversial).

While using fat from one's own body might seem preferable to commercial fillers, the biggest drawbacks to fat injections are that they require an operation to harvest the material, the short term survival rate of the fat is highly variable, and the long term survival is rather disappointing, often approaching 0-10% by one year after the operation.

Although some patients experience higher and longer survival, most don't.