Variable clinical use of free fat graft

Lee, Keun Cheol; Kim, Jeong Tae; Jung, Young Ha; Kim, Seok Kwun

Abstract

Generally alloplastic matrials such as collagen compound and liquid silicone injection, or autologous fat injection have been used for correction of surface irregularity. But, except for autologous fat injection, the other methods have been proved to be not effective or even dangerous. Then with the explosion in the popularity of liposuction, the autologous fat injection has been applied to variable clinical uses for contouring of the soft tissue irregularities. The author performed main operations with fat injections as ancillary procedure in 16 patients from 1993 to 1996, and long term follow-ups were reported. The lesions treated most frequently were cheeks, and others were thighs, legs, nasolabial folds and upper eyelids in order of frequency. The donor sites were lower abdomen, thigh, buttock and cheek. Our method of fat injection was used as an ancillary procedure for improving post-operative results in variable cases (craniofacial microsomia, fibrous dysplasia, asymmetry of leg, etc). And the important technical points in our method for reducing the absorption of fat after injection were atraumatic liposuction, multilayered dispersed injection, and 20% overcorrection. We obtained satisfactory aethetic results without major complications.