A tight squeeze

It involves extracting fat cells from the patient’s abdomen, thighs, buttocks or elsewhere and re-injecting them beneath the facial skin, lips, breast, buttock or anywhere else as required.

The duration of the fat injections varies significantly from patient to patient. Normally 50-60 per cent of the fat survives for five to six years.

Fat is most often used to fill in “sunken” cheeks or laugh lines between the nose and mouth, to correct skin depressions or indentations, to minimise forehead wrinkles and to enhance the lips, for peri-orbital rejuvenation, and treat depressed scars, acne scars, etc.

Procedure: Consult a specialist before doing such a procedure. After both the donor and recipient sites are cleansed and treated with a local anaesthesia, the fat is withdrawn using a syringe with a large-bore needle or a cannula (the same instrument used in liposuction) attached to a suction device. The fat is then prepared and injected into the recipient site with a needle. Sometimes an adhesive bandage is applied over the injection site. “Overfilling” is necessary to allow for fat absorption in the weeks following treatment. When fat is used to fill sunken cheeks or to correct areas on the face other than lines, this overcorrection of newly injected fat may temporarily make the face appear abnormally puffed out or swollen.

Post-treatment: The swelling and puffiness in the recipient site may last several days, especially if a large area was filled. While many patients are able to resume normal activity immediately post treatment, if a larger area was treated, you may be advised to curtail your activity for a brief time. You can expect some swelling, bruising or redness in both the donor and recipient sites. The severity of these symptoms depends upon the size and location of the treated area. You should stay out of the sun until the redness and bruising subsides usually about 48 hours.

— The writer is a cosmetic surgeon.