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What is your opinion on fat grafting during a facelift?

Dr. Dean Kane Q & A Q. What is your opinion on fat grafting during a facelift? Can this lead to bumps and lumps, or is less likely during an actual facelift, as opposed to at the derm’s office, because you can actually see what you are doing? A. ​The ideal facelift has 3 desired end results
  1. ​repositioning of the soft-tissue and fat descent of the face to the upper cheek, and
  2. ​a youthful redraping of the skin, accenting the jawline and reducing the nasolabial and marionette folds, and
  3. minimize the visible scars.
If the patient has enough fat to remove from the jowl and the neck, I will use it to add volume to the “apple” of the upper cheek which is not otherwise easily filled. ​ ​Fat grafting does not have a perfect survival record but when it survives, it lives indefinitely and provides a free source of volume with no rejection complications. It is also easy for the well experienced surgeon to inject it where volume is desired while the skin is elevated or at the end of the procedure. ​ ​If the patient is thin with no fat to easily transfer, volumizing fillers such as Lyft and Voluma add to projection of the cheeks as well. These injectables can be provided at the time of facelift surgery or following the healing process of the facelift. ​ There are techniques to minimize swelling, bruising and hematoma but you should expect surgery and injectables to create lumps and bumps in the Operating Room or on the Examination Table no matter who performs the procedure. ​ ​Choose your well experienced, artsy, Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, ENT Facial Surgeon or Dermatologist carefully.  I wish you well.
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