Fat grafting may be one way to generate improved facelift results, but just how many plastic surgeons combine the two? New York plastic surgeon Sammy Sinno, M.D., and a team of researchers decided to find out. Their recently published study not only examined the percentage of surgeons that is currently using fat grafting during facelift surgery, but also identified the most common techniques being used.
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The researchers designed a 28-item questionnaire and distributed it to a randomized cohort of American Society of Plastic Surgeons members. A total of 309 questionnaires were collected and data were statistically analyzed using Pearson chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests.
Facelift-Fat Grafting Results
The data showed that 85.2% of respondents use fat grafting during facelifts and that the most common techniques include abdominal harvest, centrifuge processing, blunt cannula injection without pretunneling and placing less than 0.1 cc per pass. The deep central malar, lower lid-cheek junction and nasolabial folds are the most commonly injected areas.
“The major findings of this study are that most plastic surgeons performing facelifts in the U.S. today are utilizing autologous fat transfer as part of their procedure,” Miami plastic surgeon and study co-author James M. Stuzin, M.D., tells Cosmetic Surgery Times. “The combination of repositioning facial fat through the SMAS portion of the facelift, in conjunction with volume addition — usually placed within the central aesthetic subunits of the face which are not affected by facial fat repositioning — work in tandem to provide greater control in restoring facial shape and blending the contour between the aesthetic subunits of the cheek, lower lid and perioral region.”
The study appears in the July issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
