With continuing improvements in the field, fat grafting is becoming an ever more popular cosmetic treatment to have.

Fat grafting is used in a range of cosmetic surgeries – from helping the look of scars, to wrinkle-reductions or lip augmentations. Although fat grafting is not a new technique, the methodology has been steadily improving over the years and this has meant that the treatment has become ever more popular.

In the early days of fat grafting, the fat cells were absorbed into the body t a fast rate meaning that the desired results often faded away quickly. However new techniques mean that fat is injected in smaller proportions into different layers of tissue to ensure that the results of the treatment last longer.

There are three major steps involved in a fat graft. Firstly, the body fat must be harvested. Usually fat is taken from the abdomen and/or thigh region. The fatty cells are then separated from other fluids before being injected into the treatment sites. Around 10 percent of the harvested cells are actually fat which can be used – the rest is fluid which must be discarded. Approximately 20-30 percent of the total fat injected will be reabsorbed therefore more fat than is required will be injected to ensure the eventual results are as desired.

One of the biggest up-sides to using your own body fat as an injectable as opposed to other fillers are that the chance of rejection is much smaller since the cells originated from your own body. The results are also said to have a much longer lasting effect as the fat cells can continue to maintain and grow after getting blood supply from the region.