10 questions about natural fillers: Lipofilling wrinkles & lips with your own fat
Filling facial wrinkles with your own body fat, it is becoming increasingly popular in the Netherlands. It is known as the “natural filler. Darren Booi is one of the plastic surgeons at MOOI Clinic who specializes in facial lipofilling and facelifts. In this article, we’d like to tell you a little more about lipofilling of the face (and lips) and, in the process, talk to Darren.
1. What is lipofilling anyway?
Lipofilling is a surgical technique in which your own fat tissue is used to insert it – after purification – elsewhere in the body or face, to add volume where desired. So instead of using prosthetics or fillers, we use the fat you already have. This technique is already widely used to enlarge breasts naturally, as well as to restore volume loss in the face.
2. So it’s basically two treatments in one? Liposuction and lipofilling?
No, unfortunately you can’t put it that way. Of course, you will become slightly slimmer in the areas where we remove fat cells, but in liposuction treatment we normally remove much more fat. This therefore involves correcting a figure, a so-called contour correction. In lipofilling, we remove only as much fat as is needed to fill the other body part.
3. Where do you get the grease?
This is done in consultation with the patient, but certainly based on my advice. It is most common for us to remove fat from the legs, but it is also possible on the abdomen or along the flanks. Where we remove the fat is called the donor area.
4. How are these natural fillers made with your own fat?
With the special cannulas we the fat from the donor area. Next, the body fat is purified. The fluid, blood and oil are filtered out so that only the good and healthy fat cells remain. This pure fat is then suctioned back up and introduced into the skin through multiple injections. There is no more natural filler.
5. What wrinkles are filled during lipofilling treatment?
As you age, you get more wrinkles. Your skin slackens and may droop in some areas, causing wrinkles. You may also experience volume loss. In women, we often see this in the cheeks and cheekbones. The fat disappears and this creates wrinkles on the cheeks and a more angular appearance. By reinserting the fat, you can soften the look and also achieve a more youthful appearance.
We often treat the following areas with our own fat fillers (possibly within 1 treatment):
- Forehead wrinkles and sunken temples
- Cheekbones / cheeks
- Tear duct (for dark circles under the eyes)
- Hollow eyes (just below the eyebrow)
- Nasal folds (wrinkle from the nose to the mouth)
- Marionette lines (from the corners of the mouth to the chin)
- Dimple or wrinkles in the chin
- Jawline
6. Can I also fill my lips with this natural filler?
This can be done, but our experience is that here the fat does not grow in as well, so more treatments may be needed. Areas with a lot of movement, such as the lips, are less well treated with lipofilling. It is likely that exercise affects the ingrowth of fat cells.
7. Will I look younger after lipofilling facial treatment?
Yes definitely! As we counteract volume loss, your face starts to look younger and wrinkles soften, and you definitely look younger than before surgery. However, sometimes the skin is so sagging that filler is not the right solution but a facelift is. Our plastic surgeons who specialize in facelifts can best advise you on this during a consultation. A facelift such as a MACS elevator is sometimes combined with facial lipofilling treatment. Through the facelift, the laxity (the disappearance of elasticity of the skin) of the face is corrected and with lipofilling, we actually give more volume back to the face.
8. Why should I choose fillers with my own fat instead of the hyaluronic acid fillers?
Proprietary fat has several advantages over hyaluronic acid fillers. First of all, your body fat is 100% natural and because of this you will never get an allergic reaction. In addition, some people also like the idea of nothing unnatural being inserted into their bodies. It also gives a very nice and soft result.
We do lipofilling of the face primarily as a full-face treatment. Otherwise, this treatment is too costly compared to a traditional filler treatment. In some cases, lipofilling is more economical, though. When a lot of ‘cc is needed to fill the volume loss, eventually using your own fat may be more advantageous because of the long-lasting results.
Another advantage is that the own fat is permanent, where a hyaluronic acid filler needs to be repeated after several months. The important thing, however, is to maintain your weight. In fact, the displaced fat cells behave like all fat cells after ingrowth: they can grow or shrink. Of course, we cannot change the normal aging process.
9. What are the disadvantages of this treatment?
We perform the treatment under anesthesia or sedation, which is why this treatment is quite pricey if you want to fill a single wrinkle. In practice, this is also almost non-existent and we usually treat the entire face.
Another disadvantage to lipofilling is that some of the fat is lost anyway. After it is reinserted, the fat cells must grow in. Some of the inserted fat is then still lost.
10. Am I suitable for lipofilling?
Because we require less fat in facial lipofilling than in breast lipofilling, most people are suitable for the treatment.
Hopefully I have answered so many of your questions about these “natural fillers. Want to know if this technique is right for your face? Request a consultation with the plastic surgeon who specializes in facial lipofilling.
If you think fillers through hyaluronic acid is more for you, no problem, our doctors specialize in both areas.
