Fat Grafting: Rejuvenation
May 31st, 2012
Photo: Here I am with Dr. Cohen and his original artwork. I recently attended a small workshop with Dr. Steven Cohen to discuss the beneficial effects of fat grafting. The meeting was held at Dr. Cohen’s La Jolla office, where he shared results of fat grafting based on personal experience with his patients. It is now well-established that fat injections placed beneath skin can lead to dramatic improvement. Skin damaged by radiation therapy is particularly responsive to this treatment. Careful injection of autologous (your own) liposuctioned fat beneath the radiated skin can lead to dramatic healing and improvement in skin quality. Dr. Sydney Coleman of New York was the first to notice that facial skin overlying fat injected areas resulted in a more youthful appearance. This is likely as a result of the presence of large numbers of undifferentiated cells, which are naturally found in fat.
I believe that this technique promises to make substantial changes in the area of anti-aging procedures and the treatment of damaged skin. The use of fat grafting, as a soft-tissue filler, shows promising regenerative effects on both aged and damaged skin. The injected fat stimulates tissue repair and recreates a more youthful and supple appearance to the skin. As a matter of fact, I am doing a fat injection procedure this morning that is specifically designed for facial rejuvenation. Injection rejuvenation and other applications for similar procedures presents innovation for the cosmetic surgery wave of the future.
Technology Innovations: Breast Enlargement
June 28th, 2011
As I mentioned last week, I attended the Technology Innovation in Plastic Surgery Conference in San Francisco. I believe that new techniques and technologies in field of cosmetic surgery will change dramatically in the next five years.
Some of these new innovations involve carefully harvested fat injections. A promising procedure involves using fat harvesting for breast enlargement. Liposuction fat is transferred from one area to anther after it has been specially processed. Augmenting the breast with the body’s own fat first became popular in the 1980’s. Initially, both ASPS and ASAPS urged caution. The current procedure has been perfected and gives patients another option when considering breast enlargement.
In the past, there were concerns whether fat injections may calcify, or harden, and interfere with traditional mammograms and breast cancer screenings. 

More recently, radiology literature suggest that new generations of digital mammography is more sophisticated and better able to distinguish troublesome cells.
Some noteworthy facts about this innovative procedure include needing only pinpoint marks at the injection sites, because no incisions are made in the breast. Patients are also free to discard implant rupture concerns and benefit from reduced risk of breast firmness or numbness. However, more than one procedure might be required to achieve the desired result and this new fullness may fluctuate with weight gain or loss.
This series continues.
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