Facial Fat Grafting
Also known as fat transfer, lipofilling, autologous fat grafting
Uses your own fat to restore facial volume. Permanent where it survives — and predicting how much survives is the whole problem.
US $4,000–12,000 depending on the number of areas treated.
How it works
Fat is harvested by liposuction, processed to isolate viable adipocytes, and injected in fine parcels into the face. Grafted fat must establish a blood supply to survive; the fraction that does becomes permanent living tissue, while the rest is resorbed.
How it's used
Expect 40–70% graft survival, so surgeons deliberately over-correct and a second session is common. Because surviving fat behaves like the fat it came from, significant weight change afterwards will change your face. Structural fat grafting to the midface, temples and jawline is more predictable than superficial grafting to fine areas.
Trade-offs
In favour
- Permanent where the graft takes
- Uses your own tissue with no foreign body or allergy risk
- Improves overlying skin quality, likely via stem cell content
- Simultaneous liposuction of the donor area
Against
- Unpredictable survival requiring touch-up sessions
- Longer recovery than filler
- Overfilling produces a heavy, distorted look that is hard to reverse
- Your face now tracks your body weight
Risks and side effects
- Irregular lumps, nodules and asymmetry
- Fat necrosis and oil cysts
- Over-correction that is difficult to remove
- Prolonged swelling — the face looks overfilled for weeks
- Very rare but catastrophic vascular occlusion causing blindness or stroke with facial injection
Recovery
Week 1: substantial facial swelling and bruising, donor site soreness. Week 2: bruising fading, still visibly swollen. Weeks 3–8: swelling resolves and volume appears to decrease. Months 3–6: stable final volume.
How good is the evidence?
Well-established with good long-term data for structural grafting; graft retention remains variable and technique-dependent.
Sources
Sources point to guideline bodies and literature searches rather than single papers, so they stay accurate as the evidence moves.