Fat Transplantation to the Buttocks and Legs for Aesthetic Enhancement
Dermatologic Surgery
2000 Abstract
0012-1145 dePedroza
de Pedroza LV.
Fat transplantation to the buttocks and legs for aesthetic enhancement or
correction of deformities: long-term results of large volumes of fat transplant.
Dermatol Surg. 2000 Dec;26(12):1145-9. PMID: 11134992
Clinica Nubell Siglo XXI, Santa Fe de Bogota, Colombia.
BACKGROUND:
A comprehensive review of the history of free fat transplantation
reveals that since 1893 when Neuber used small pearls of fat taken from the arm
to fill out depressed facial scars after trauma and underlying bone loss, free
fat graft has been used with success in facial surgery, brain and nervous system
surgery, various orthopedic uses, general surgery, craniofacial surgery, and
cosmetic surgery.
OBJECTIVE:
To present the author's hypothesis that a fat graft
in cosmetic surgery responds like other kinds of tissue grafts. This article was
written as a result of the author's search for a way to avoid the most common
complications of doing a buttock or leg augmentation with silicone prostheses
and to find a better surgical procedure that is simpler, complementary with
liposuction, and better able to deal with subtle body irregularities that do not
justify a large and complicated procedure.
METHODS:
Over a period of 6.5 years,
a total of 1350 liposculptures were performed. Eight hundred and seventy-nine
patients had buttock augmentation. One patient had facial hemiatrophy and her
face was treated twice with fat grafts. Four hundred and seventy patients had
fat grafted onto their ankles and their legs for cosmetic reasons. One patient
with polio sequelae and one male patient with agenesia of the gemellus muscles
over his left leg were treated. The patients selected were not obese, but had
moderate to severe lipodystrophy. The patients ranged in age from 18 to 65
years.
RESULTS:
The results of the buttock augmentations showed that there was a
0.5-1.0 cm reduction at 2 months. This persisted until the sixth month and until
years later. These findings were seen in patients that had 3-5 kg less body
weight after surgery than before or had 3-5 L of fat removed from their bodies.
Patients who underwent ankle or leg augmentation experienced a 0.5 cm loss in
diameter over the treated areas after the 1.5-month postoperative period. No
more volume was lost after that. The areas kept the same parameters until the
sixth month and also into later follow-ups. The few complications that our
patients experienced appeared between days 2 and 15. The complications of 6.5
years occurred in 14 patients (1.037%). One case of erysipelas appeared on the
10th postoperative day. This patient reported that she was riding a bicycle and
had a scratch over the left ankle, producing an infection with edema, erythema,
and pain. Twelve patients got skin vesicles because of contact with micropore
over the skin of the ankles. We treated those patients with local antibiotics,
obtaining healing of the skin in about 5 days, with dryness and absence of the
vesicles. No damage to the graft was observed.
CONCLUSION:
The hypothesis that
applied fat grafts are real grafts was demonstrated. Not only are the grafts
real, they are able to live and persist with the patients, growing if the
patient gained weight over the gluteus area, and not losing circumference when
reducing weight.