NEW YORK, June 29 (UPI) -- More than 85 percent of plastic surgeons use fat grafting during face lifts because it allows them a greater degree of aesthetic control when correcting the effects of aging, according to a study of surgical practices.
The goal of researchers was to learn more about the specific techniques employed by practitioners in the procedure which more than 70 percent of the surgeons who responded said they'd begun to use during the last decade and just under half said they'd started using fat grafts in the last five years..
"The results of our survey demonstrate most surgeons currently believe that facial fat repositioning in combination with volume addition increases the ability to utilize these two complementary techniques to restore the volumetric highlights noted in youth, thereby enhancing facial shape," researchers wrote.
According to the study, surgeons use a combination of repositioning fat already in the face and harvesting fat from the abdomen or thigh to better rejuvenate parts of the face. Typically, this means injecting between 11 cc and 25 cc, a few teaspoons, of fat into the cheeks, next to the eyes and around the mouth, where wrinkles and dropping typically occur.
The transferred fat generally stays in the position it's injected to for one or two years, with follow-up procedures used if necessary.
The study is published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
