Good Fat: Where You Want Some Extra Padding

This article has been written by Emmy Owens and is compensated by their advertiser, and is for informational purposes only.

Fat is so in right now — if it’s in the right places. Unfortunately for many of us, we often have too much fat where we don’t want it, and not enough where we do want it. However, there’s a solution growing in popularity around the U.S. that enables us to have fat relocated from one part of the body to another. This procedure, called fat grafting or fat transfer, has been around for a long time, but medical advances in recent years have made it more successful — and more popular — than ever. Here’s where people are transferring that fat.

The Butt

The butt is arguably the hottest spot for grafted fat right now, thanks to a few celebrities whose names I’m sure you can think of. According to statistics from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the number of buttock augmentation procedures rose a whopping 86% from 2013 to 2014.

This fat grafting procedure, like others, starts with liposuction to remove fat from one or more areas of the body where it’s unwelcome, such as the abdomen, hips, or thighs. Then, the surgeon purifies that fat using a special process that improves the quality and viability of the transferred fat. Some surgeons use a centrifuge for this process, but more are swearing by the Puregraft® system, which studies have shown leads to high survival of the fat cells.

Then the surgeon injects those fat cells into different areas of the buttocks at various depths. It’s a fairly artful process that is performed with the patient’s goals in mind. Most want a rounder, higher butt for a voluptuous hourglass figure.

The Breasts

Some surgeons are now offering breast augmentation through fat grafting. Instead of using silicone or saline breast implants, this treatment boosts the size of the breasts using fat alone. A lot of women like the natural look and feel this creates, plus the results are lasting, whereas implants will eventually have to be replaced. One downside is that fat can boost the breasts by only about 1 cup size. For some women, this is enough.

Fat can also be used along with breast implants to provide better soft tissue coverage. Surgeons say it can create nice volume in the upper part of the breasts, and it can even be used for breast reconstruction patients who have had a mastectomy.

The Face

Transferring fat to the face has long been an option, but the techniques are now getting so good that many surgeons are recommending the procedure quite frequently. As a person ages, the fat in his or her face naturally diminishes. This is most visible in the cheeks and lips, which are plump in childhood, but often thin and flat when we’re older. Plastic surgeons can now inject fat or synthetic gels called dermal fillers to restore that volume.

Fat grafting is also becoming very popular as a complement to facelift surgery, which lifts skin and underlying tissues but hasn’t traditionally restored lost volume. According to the website of board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Thomas Hubbard, who specializes in facelift surgery in Virginia Beach, fat grafting “is one of the biggest advances in facial cosmetic surgery in decades.”

The site goes on to say that fat grafting is now done routinely with facelifts, to address the volume loss, flattening, or hollowing that occurs with aging.

The Hands

This is a lesser-known option for fat grafting, but it’s proven to be a useful technique for making the hands look more youthful. Just as people lose fatty volume from the face as they age, they lose it from the hands, too, sometimes creating a bony or sinewy look. Many older patients feel that even if they’ve maintained a youthful look on their faces, their hands can give them away. Fat injections are a relatively simple solution.

There’s also a small demographic of people, namely brides-to-be, who use this procedure to improve the look of their hands for the perfect “engagement ring selfie.”

So there you have it — fat isn’t all bad. It turns out that it can be really useful, as long as you know where to put it.

[disclaim]The opinions expressed by Emmy Owens and its advertiser are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of Naturally Glam LLC or its owner. Naturally Glam LLC and its owner are not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied. We keep it real at Naturally Glam.[/disclaim]