“Photo Shopping” the breast with Fat Injections

As Plastic Surgeons we are always looking to refine techniques and find answersto make results better.  “Photo Shopping” out minor defects or irregularities in the breast with fat injections is a good example.  I wish I could clain the term “Photo Shopping” but  I picked that up from collegues using the term over the last few years at meetings.  The concept is a simple one really.  For many years we just excepted, for example, that mastectomy patients would have to accept ripples or contour irregularities of the breast.  Now we can offer fat injections into these defects to smooth out irregularities or “Photo Shop” the breast .  You have to love the term it gives a great visual.

Typically I will liposuction some tummy or medial thigh fat from the patient to use for grafting.  The fat is cleaned of blood and free oils and injected into the breast where needed.  Insurance does not always cover this, but frequently may.  These tequniques are not only used for breast reconstruction, but can also be used in cosmetic breast surgery contour problems.

Like all forms of fat injection procedures I can’t guarantee complete fat graft take so we go for a little over correction expecting to loose a hint of the result.    As you might expect age, tissue quality and thickness all play into the results.  If someone smokes, is diabetic or has significant vascular disease their results are not as reliable as the healthy patient with no medical issues.  Still “Photo Shopping” the breast with precision fat graft placement is a nice new procedure to take our breast surgery results to the next level.