A fat transfer breast augmentation uses fat from your body to enlarge your breasts. Surgeons suction fat cells from several areas of your body. They then inject the fat cells into your breasts. Your breasts get bigger while the areas of your body that lost fat cells get smaller.
A fat transfer breast augmentation is a cosmetic procedure to enlarge your breasts. Surgeons use liposuction to harvest fat cells from your stomach, hips, thighs, back or arms. Afterward, these areas look slimmer. Providers inject the fat cells into your breasts, where they remain for life. A fat transfer procedure carries fewer risks than breast implants. However, it only slightly enlarges the breasts and doesn’t firm them up. For these effects, you need a breast lift or breast implants.
What is breast augmentation?
Breast augmentation is cosmetic surgery to increase breast size and enhance the shape of your breasts. The goal of this type of plastic surgery is to change your appearance. Some people call this procedure a “boob job.”
What are the types of breast augmentation?
Breast augmentation may take place using:
- Breast implants.
- Fat transfer.
What’s the difference between breast augmentation and breast reconstruction?
Breast augmentation is for healthy people who want to improve their appearance. It isn’t medically necessary. You can use breast implants or fat transfer for breast augmentation.
Breast reconstruction takes place after breast cancer surgery. It recreates one or both breasts after a mastectomy (breast removal). You must get breast implants for breast reconstruction.
Should I get a fat transfer breast augmentation?
Choosing a breast augmentation method is a personal decision. You may consider this procedure if you want slightly larger breasts but don’t want breast implants.
Who should not get a fat transfer breast augmentation?
People who have little body fat may not be good candidates for fat transfer. Your provider has to be able to remove more fat cells than they’ll use. That’s because some cells die off during the process. People with low body fat may need breast implants instead.
People who have obesity, experience drastic weight fluctuations or smoke may not be good candidates either. Ideally, you should be in good health, a nonsmoker and able to maintain a weight that’s healthy for you.
PROCEDURE DETAILS
Who performs fat transfer breast augmentations?
Cosmetic surgeons perform fat transfer breast augmentations. These plastic surgeons are medical doctors who specialize in aesthetic procedures that enhance a person’s appearance.
What happens during a fat transfer breast augmentation?
A fat transfer breast augmentation is an outpatient procedure. You go home the same day. You receive general anesthesia to help you sleep through the surgery.
During the procedure, your provider:
- Uses liposuction to harvest fat deposits from several areas of your body.
- Runs the fat cells through a centrifuge device to remove any impurities.
- Uses special syringes to inject the purified fat cells into different tissue layers inside of your breasts.
How long does a fat transfer breast augmentation last?
The results from a fat transfer breast augmentation are lifelong. It can take up to six months to see the final results. During this time, the fat cells settle into their new places, where they remain for life. Because some cells die after the injection, providers inject more fat cells than needed during the transfer.
Most people who undergo fat transfer breast augmentations are satisfied with the results. If you’re dissatisfied, your provider may recommend another fat transfer procedure.
RISKS / BENEFITS
What are the risks of a fat transfer breast augmentation?
Risks of a fat transfer breast augmentation include:
- Bleeding and bruising.
- Fat cell death (necrosis) or fat cells moving out of your breasts to different parts of your body.
- Infection.
- Noncancerous (benign) breast cysts or breast calcifications.
What are the benefits of fat transfer breast augmentation over breast implants?
Fat transfer breast augmentation is a natural way to enhance breast shape and size. Surgeons use liposuction to remove fat from your belly, hips, back, legs or arms. These areas of your body become smaller.
Your provider injects the fat cells into your breasts to make them bigger. Because breasts have a lot of fatty tissue, adding more fat gives the breasts a natural look and feel.
Breast augmentation using breast implants involves artificial shells filled with silicone gel or saline (sterile saltwater). A surgeon places the implants underneath your skin.
With breast implants:
- You need replacement surgery every 10 to 15 years.
- You may need tissue expansion a few weeks before the procedure. A surgically implanted balloon stretches the skin on your breast so it can accommodate the implant and increased size.
- You’re at risk for an implant hardening or rupturing. In that case, you’ll need surgery to remove and replace the implant.
- Severe scarring called capsular contracture can occur around the implant. This can cause severe pain. It also increases your risk of blood clots.
- You may develop breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma. This rare cancer affects your immune system. It isn’t breast cancer. Treatment involves removing the breast implant. Some people need chemotherapy.
Fat Transfer To Breast Pros And Cons
While many women choose to have implants for fuller breasts and improved cleavage, others simply like to have their breasts’ size enhanced naturally out of their own body tissue. If you want to enjoy your natural breasts with a modest increase in breast size but without the implants, breast augmentation with a fat transfer may be the procedure for you.
Breast augmentation is the top most common cosmetic surgery and has evolved in it’s advancement over the years. Many women believe implants are the only way to enhance their breasts, but that’s just only one option. The desire to have 100% natural and fuller breasts is no longer just a dream, but an actual reality!
Thanks to the fat transfer surgery and advanced technology available at our practice, we have witnessed breast augmentation with fat transfer to be one of the most minimally invasive and body-friendly cosmetic procedures.
Wondering about the positive and negatives of this procedure? Here is a list of pros and cons worth considering before you choose to undergo breast augmentation surgery with fat transfer.
PROS
Dual Toning Procedure: Sculpt Your Body All Over!
Without a doubt, one of the most noticeable and facilitated advantages of fat augmentation surgery is the removal of fat from your body parts with unwanted fat such as thighs, waist, hips, abdomen, etc.
This great way of body contouring can minimize unwanted fat areas of your body by a few inches, leaving you more confident in your own skin.
Minimal Invasive Surgery
Unlike breast implant surgery, breast augmentation with fat transfer is a far less invasive procedure with smaller incisions (~ 4 mm). Additionally, it is an ideal choice if you have sagging boobs (grade 1 ptosis). Although it requires two procedures: liposuction and injecting the fat into the donor body, it provides easier recovery in less time.
Liposuction involves small incisions, resulting in minimum swelling, bruising, and scarring; you may feel a bit of discomfort post procedure as your body begins to heal itself.
The fat transfer surgery involves injecting fat into the breasts that leaves almost no scarring and results in quick and comfortable recovery.
Relatively Fewer Complications
Breast augmentation with a fat transfer has a better safety record and relatively fewer postoperative complications than breast implants.
Women with breast implants possess the risk of developing capsular contracture, breast implant illness, rupture, etc. These implant-related risks and the high-cost corrective surgeries can be avoided if you opt for a breast augmentation surgery with fat transfer.
Natural and fuller breasts
As compared to breast implants, breasts feel and look more natural as your own body’s fat is injected in you, and that’s why it’s also called “natural breast augmentation surgery with fat transfer.” If you don’t like the idea of putting anything foreign in your body and want to have natural and fuller breasts, then this procedure is an excellent option for you to consider.
CONS
The limited increase in breast size
There may be limitations of an increase in breast size restricted to about one cup size. If you wish to achieve a significant change in breast volume and curvy cleavage, fat transfer surgery may not be a great option for you.
Not every candidate is an ideal candidate
You may not be a good candidate for liposuction if you are lean, because there isn’t enough adipose tissue to use in the fat transfer technique.
Unpredictable fat survival results
A board-certified plastic surgeon carefully performs the procedure, ensuring the maximum fat survival rates when injected into the body. Typically, the survival of fat is about 50-70%, but depending on how everyone’s body reacts, some fat may be absorbed. This may result in less desirable enhancement, and you can end up needing more fat injections. For this, the procedure may need one or several repeats.
Cost
Because you are getting two procedures done, that’s why the overall cost may be more than the breast implant surgery. Further cost may add up when you choose to have a fat injection more than once.
Additional concerns
Unlike breast implants, sagging happens with age, considerable weight loss, pregnancy, etc., which can’t be prevented after a fat transfer procedure.
RECOVERY AND OUTLOOK
What is recovery like after a fat transfer breast augmentation?
Your healthcare provider will wrap an elastic bandage around your chest and fit you with a surgical bra. These bindings help the fat deposits settle into place. You should plan to take a week off from work and other physical activities.
You may have pain, bruising, swelling and discomfort in your breasts and liposuctioned areas for up to three weeks. Swelling may persist for up to six months.
These steps can ease your recovery:
- Sleep on your back to keep pressure off of your breasts.
- Take antibiotics and pain relievers as directed by your provider.
- Wear loose-fitting clothing to avoid compressing your breasts.
WHEN TO CALL THE DOCTOR
When should I call the doctor?
You should call your healthcare provider if you experience:
- Excessive bleeding, swelling or bruising.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Severe pain.
- Signs of infection like yellow discharge or fever.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
Does a fat transfer breast augmentation affect breast cancer risk or mammograms?
A fat transfer breast augmentation doesn’t increase your risk of breast cancer. And mammograms still work well for most people after this procedure.
Your breasts contain fatty tissue and breast tissue. Fatty tissue looks dark on a mammogram. Tumors look white against this dark tissue. Even when augmentation adds more fat to your breasts, tumors are still easily visible.
But a fat transfer breast augmentation can cause microcalcifications. These calcium deposits look like small white spots on a mammogram.
Most microcalcifications aren’t a sign of cancer. But microcalcifications sometimes cluster in your breast due to a type of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). To rule out cancer, your healthcare provider may recommend more tests like a breast ultrasound, MRI or needle biopsy.
Natural Breast Augmentation
Breast enhancement supplements aren’t likely to work and might have side effects.
Many supplements are marketed as natural means of breast enlargement. Breast enhancement supplements typically contain a variety of herbs, such as saw palmetto and wild yam. Supplement manufacturers often discuss the potential benefits of plant-derived substances known as phytoestrogens on breast health. However, it’s not clear that phytoestrogens enhance breast growth.
Serious drug interactions are possible with many supplements, especially if you take a blood-thinning medication such as warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven).
Breast enlargement might be a side effect of certain prescription drugs — such as hormone therapy (estrogen), birth control pills and certain antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. However, the components of these medications aren’t found in over-the-counter breast enhancement supplements.
If you’re interested in breast enhancement, talk to your doctor about more-effective options — such as breast implants.