CASE #1

This 36 year old gentleman presented with pectus excavatum deformity with hollowing out of the chest in the area over the breast bone. Autologous fat grafting was performed harvesting fat from the flank and hip area and injecting a total of 80 cc of fat to correct the pectus excavatum deformity. His postoperative result is shown six months after the corrective surgery.

Fat Transfer (fat grafting) – In recent years, fat “grafting” has grown greatly in popularity. When fat grafting is performed, fatty tissue from one part of the body is removed, purified and then injected into the area where increased volume is desired. Fat grafting can be used to diminish facial wrinkles, to enhance the appearance of the lips, and to perform breast augmentation. Fat grafting is also very useful for treating certain complications of breast implant surgery, including waviness and rippling of the overlying skin. Surgeons have also found fat grafting to be a useful adjunct in breast reconstruction after mastectomy.

However, in recent years, perhaps, the most rapidly growing indication for fat grafting is for enhancement of the appearance of the buttocks. The procedure is known as the “Brazilian butt lift.” It consists of careful liposuctioning of fat from a number of areas (donor sites include the abdomen, back and thighs), purification of the fat and injection of a large volume of fat into the buttocks to increase the volume. Typically, anywhere from 400 to 800 cc of fat can be injected into each buttock, resulting in dramatic improvement in the contour of the buttocks. Complications after autologous fat grafting are unusual, but fat grafting always has a certain degree of “unpredictability.” We know that the body will reabsorb a certain percentage of the fat over time. However, if proper surgical technique is used, most of the fat graft remains viable, and the improvement that has been achieved is “permanent.”