Fat Graft Augmentation Mammaplasty

Breast augmentation with the transfer or grafting of own fat is a safe, minimally invasive procedure that provides women with an alternative to breast augmentation surgery.

Women who would like to reduce unwanted fat deposits, in addition to correcting the shape, asymmetry or to increase naturally the volume of their breasts, or other parts of the body, are the best candidates for this type of treatment. This increase is moderate and will not exceed the size of a bra cup.

If the woman wants a larger one-cup increase in the volume of her breasts, the combined use of a breast implant.

Over time there are changes in body contour due to age or hormonal changes, so fat deposits may appear in the thighs, back, buttocks or abdomen. These tissues are composed of fat cells or adipocytes and other cells that favor their survival, known as “stem cells”.

What are Stem cells”?

They are non-specialized cells, that is, as reserve cells, which have the capacity to transform into other types of cells for the different organs of the body. They are found in many parts of the body, but especially fat is a large storehouse of this type of cells with potential to be beneficial in different medical treatments.

These “stem cells” that are found naturally in the fatty tissue are transferred during the normal procedure of grafting or fat transfer together with the adipocytes. For this reason, do not be fooled by marketing and marketing techniques that promote the use of stem cells added or obtained from fat to improve the results in cosmetic surgery, since its efficacy is not sufficiently sustained by clinical evidence.

In our clinic we obtain the necessary fat for breast augmentation through the Body Jet Liposuction procedure.

Is the transfer of fat useful in Secondary Breast Surgeries (Second operations on already operated breasts?

Breast augmentation with own fat also provides a solution for those women who decide to definitively withdraw their breast implants after years of wearing them and who, however, do not want their breasts to be reduced or too low.
It is also a wonderful solution for the reconstruction of breasts, in women who have suffered breast cancer and who after surgery have lost part of their breast, as in the partial removal of the breast, or after a complete mastectomy and reconstruction with prostheses or own tissues wish to improve the shape and size of their breasts.

What are the benefits of breast augmentation with own fat?

  • It is a natural alternative to the breast prosthesis, when only a small or moderate and natural increase is desired.
  • Avoid the risks and the need to change breast implants.
  • It is a minimally invasive and short recovery procedure.
  • Lasting and natural results.
  • Two treatments are performed in a single surgical time (simultaneously): an increase in the breasts and an improvement in the body contour by liposuction.

What is the cost of fat graft augmentation mammaplasty?

The costs of any surgery or minimally invasive procedure include the time of use of the operating room, the expenses of the hospital stay, the fees of the surgical and anesthetic medical equipment, the surgical material used, the compression garments, the drainage massages lymphatic, the visits after the treatment and often the possible adjustments to be made.
The transfer of own fat includes two treatments: liposuction to obtain the fat that in turn can be used or not to improve the body contour, and the increase in volume and the modification of the shape of the breasts.
For all the above, it is necessary to assess your case in a personalized way, being unlikely that two different cases have the same final cost. You must bear in mind that a reconstructive plastic procedure is not engraved with the Value Added Tax (VAT), while another procedure for aesthetic purposes will be increased with 21% according to current legislation.

Come to Dr. Terrén’s clinic, your specialist in breast augmentation procedures in Valencia and breast augmentation in Valencia. Consult me ​​your problem and I will look for a better and more personalized solution, using the best resources available to me.

Candidates for the procedure

Women who want a breast augmentation with their own fat can get fuller and more attractive breasts; Although the increase in the size of the breasts is small, it offers us results that look more natural.
Finally, not all women are good candidates for breast augmentation with fat, and each case should be assessed in a personalized way. The desire for large, round breasts, sagging breasts or severe asymmetry requires mammary surgery with breast implants or mastopexy techniques.

Simulation breast augmentation

During your first visit, Dr. Terrén make a detailed assessment of all breast measures. An excellent plastic surgeon should spend much time on these kind of details, talk to every women about their own expectations and the chances of getting a good final result.

For this we have now the best resources, and extensive experience in excess of 20 years breast surgery. During the visit you can run a simulation with external testers, allowing a woman to simulate the outcome of an intervention breast augmentation, ending the uncertainty of whether you will be taking the right decision regarding the size of the implants breast (learn more).

Note

The snuff can complicate the results of the surgery, so you must agree with Dr. Terrén reduced consumption few weeks before and after the intervention.

There are medications that reduce the ability of blood clotting, such as aspirin, so the doctor must inform their consumption and eliminate them from your treatment.

Dr. Terrén explain postoperative care and proper recovery time, as well as their expected return to work activities (1 to 2 weeks), personal and sporting regular (3-4 weeks). Explain the risks and possible complications, and the leaves will be given informed consent to read and sign.

About the risks there is sufficient experience in these techniques so that the risks inherent in the three procedures, breast augmentation, liposuction and lipotransference, are significantly reduced.

  • The use of smaller implants reduces the risks of visibility of the prosthesis, postoperative pain, and even capsular contracture or rupture of breast prostheses.
  • The complications of liposuction with less aggressive techniques such as the use of water under pressure with BodyJet are also reduced compared to those of conventional liposuction or other assisted liposuction techniques, with less pain, less inflammation and a more postoperative recovery fast
  • Many studies have also suggested that fat grafting does not increase the risk of breast cancer. With the new techniques of mammography and MRI it is easier for radiologists to determine the presence of a breast tumor even with the presence of fat grafts in the breast.

Both combined techniques, performed by a surgeon expert in breast augmentation, in liposuction and in the transfer of the fat obtained, represent a great advance in plastic surgery and in obtaining the best results in breast augmentation.

Dr. Terrén will report the costs of surgery. There is no fixed price for all interventions and your case will be treated individually, including the costs of surgery and hospitalization if appropriate, fees surgical equipment and anesthesia. You can check with the clinic staff financing options that may be of interest (see financing).

The transfer of own fat can be done with local anesthesia, local anesthesia and sedation, or with general anesthesia. This will depend on the extent of the areas necessary to obtain a sufficient amount of fat to perform the entire procedure.
Local anesthesia is achieved through the infiltration or injection of certain amounts of a fluid prepared with saline and other medications that will prevent pain and bleeding in the donor areas of the fat. In the breasts, or receptor area, it will be sufficient to anesthetize the points of entry and trajectory of the fat.
The amount of fluid used will depend on the liposuction technique used. Large amounts of fluid are used in the so-called “tumescent technique”, puddling fat tissue to more easily obtain fat cells. However, the drugs used for anesthesia are slightly harmful for the survival of the fat, and therefore the final results worsen.
However, with the technique of obtaining fat cells assisted by pressurized water or WAL technique with the Body-Jet®, which I use in the IMED clinic in Valencia, the tumescent technique and the necessary quantity of these anesthetic fluids are not necessary. It is more reduced, so that the survival of the adipocytes is greater and the results obtained in breast augmentation, or in other parts of the body, will be better and more lasting.

What is “Waterjet Assisted Liposuction” with Body-Jet®?

It is the liposuction procedure that I use for obtaining fat and performing breast augmentation with fat graft.
With the Body-Jet® system, a small amount of anesthetic fluid is introduced, which ensures less damage to the fat cells. Then I use special cannulas that introduce water at moderate pressure between the adipocytes to release them from their bonds with the least possible damage, and at the same time they are gently aspirated applying a negative pressure of smaller aspiration which ensures the viability of these cells.
The injection of these fluids with moderate pressure helps to wash and purify the fat cells and accompanying stem cells, and they are deposited in a closed container from which they are obtained with syringes for injection into the breasts or other parts of the body. This procedure minimizes the handling and destruction of adipocytes, improving the quality of the procedure.

How is the fat graft made?

Once I have obtained the purified fat and washed by the procedure described above, it is transferred to smaller syringes.
The transfer is made through small incisions or minimal punctures in the breasts that will NOT leave visible scars, and through the use of very thin hollow cannulas of different lengths and thicknesses.
With advance and retreat movements fat is deposited slowly in multiple areas of the breast in sufficient quantity until the desired and feasible volume is achieved, facilitating that the fat cells are integrated and grow in the mammary tissues.
An increase of excessive pressure in the internal part of the breasts will reduce the survival of the adipocytes and worsen the results. This means that I should limit the volume to be introduced in this treatment. The incisions can be left open or closed with small sutures that are removed within a few days.

 First visit for Fat Graft Breast Augmentation

Fat Graft Augmentation Mammaplasty 3D Simulations

How is the postoperative?

Women can leave the hospital within a few hours of treatment, on the same day. You can take your first full shower at 48h. of the treatment by removing and changing the dressings of the skin. In donor areas of fat the woman should wear a moderate compression garment that gives support for several weeks until full recovery; The lymphatic drainage massages will also help a faster improvement. It will take analgesics during the first days and will be able to realize moderate physical exercise.

In the breasts you will only wear a comfortable sports bra and some dressings. Hematomas or edema may appear on the skin, in addition to inflammation, which will disappear in a few days or weeks.

There will be some restrictions and advice about the position to sleep or to sit,

When we can see the results?

The breast augmentation with own fat needs a time to be able to give a definitive result. From the first moment you will see an increase in the size of the breasts, but it will still be a few months before we can determine the final result. In the first weeks of treatment there will be an inflammation or edema due to water retention in the breasts; This inflammation will disappear in a few months and a small percentage of the fat, which has not survived the procedure, will also disappear.

Keep in mind that in extreme cases you can lose all the fatty tissue implanted or that the results may be unwanted, which will need future treatments with fat transfer to correct them.

Once the results are assessed about a year after the procedure, it will be decided whether this is final or, if the woman wishes a greater increase in the volume of her breasts, we will perform a new treatment to complete the volume or the final form of the breasts

The results can also vary if you gain or lose weight, since it involves the transfer of living fat cells. Pregnancy and lactation can alter the size of the breasts, as well as natural aging.

When the expectations are realistic and the information that has been provided is complete and well understood, you will enjoy many years of the results of your breast augmentation with your own fat.

What are the risks and complications?

During the information process I will explain that infection, fat cysts, small deposits of calcium or micro-calcifications in the breasts or the partial loss of the transferred fat can appear.

Some of these cysts and micro-calcifications may appear in radiological examinations, such as mammograms, that you may perform in the future as part of a study of risk prevention or diagnosis of breast cancer. Your radiologist should know that previously you have been treated with a transfer of your own fat to rule out confusion with other pathological processes in the breast.

Am I going to need retouching?

It may be necessary to make small adjustments to correct small irregularities or minimal asymmetries in the breasts. These retouching will be done on an outpatient basis and with a quick recovery without the need to abandon their work.

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