Facial Rejuvenation with Fat Grafting

It has been a longlasting belief of dr. Grossman that faces appear older because of lost facial fat as a person ages. Other major reasons for sudden aging of the face is related to losing a large amount of weight due to changes in diet or exercise, as well as chronic and serious illness, or stress.

Dr. Grossman finds no validity in the theory that aging of the face is related to the stretching of muscle or skin ligaments. He also does not believe that gravity plays a major role in the aging process. If you were to look at your own photographs today, compared to those from twenty years earlier, you would notice something called “deflation of the face.”

If this makes sense to you, then you shouldn’t choose to have a typical face lift procedure. This is a procdure in which the muscles of the face are repositioned and tightened, producing a “wind-tunneled look.”

On the other hand, for patients who have suddenly lost 40 lbs. or more, there is usually a large amount of excess skin present, which necessitates excision of the skin, known as a “skin” face lift. This face lift can be performed together with a fat transfer procedure, which results in the most natural and relaxed type of facial rejuvenation.

For patients who have pretty much remained at the same weight throughout their lifetime, a face lift is not advised. The result will be undesirable—following the procedure, patients will not look as they did when they were younger. Instead, the patient’s facial skin will look “pulled.”

Since 1995, Dr. Grossman has been performing fat transfer procedures to rejuvenate the faces of both men and women. Prior to the procedure, Dr. Grossman examines the photographs of a patient when he or she was much younger, usually between the ages of 16 to 27. Dr. Grossman then discusses with the patient the facial changes that have occurred since that time. Working together with the patient, he will devise a plan as to where more facial volume will be added in order for the patient to look younger and natural. This does not mean that a patient is going to look 18 after the procedure, but it does mean that he or she will look considerably more youthful and relaxed.

On the day of the procedure, the patient’s face and fat “harvest” is marked. While under a light anesthesia, the fat is removed from the most stubborn areas using a special blunt needle and syringe. The fat will then be processed in order to assure the survivability of as many fat cells as possible. The processed fat is then transferred to syringes, which in turn will be used to deliver or inject the fat cell where needed on the face or the neck.

The average time for the procedure is 90 minutes. The recovery is extremely easy because there is no post-operative pain and physical activities may be resumed just days after the procedure. There may be minimal bruising, which dissipates at different rates according to the particular patient.

There is, however, always some swelling present after the procedure, which can last anywhere from as little as one week to as long as six weeks for the exceptional few. In general, there are few complications and there is no scarring.

Results of fat transfer are very long-lasting, if not permanent; the fat should behave in the same way as it did in the area from where it was removed. There will be natural loss of fat everywhere in the face as the person continues to get older. Most patients look best 10 years following the fat transfer procedure than they did prior to surgery.

Dr. Leonard Grossman

159 East 74th St., Ste. 1-M

New York, NY 10021

(212) 585-2133

www.drgrossman.com

www.transumbilicalbreastaugmentation.com

www.tubaprocedure.com