Fat Grafting vs. Liposuction

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Clothing that decrease the appearance of an unshapely body is growing in popularity. Stores carry everything from Spanx to tunics, to slimming leggings all with the hope to help contour the body to a specific look. Another option increasing in popularity is body contouring surgeries such as fat grafting and liposuction to obtain desired aesthetic goals. Of these two procedures, which one is the right one? The below content explores the two procedures in more depth to help determine the answer:

What is Fat Grafting?

Fat grafting is one option for those who want cosmetic surgery to reshape the body. Fat is removed from overly fatty areas such as the stomach and love handles and then transferred by injection into other parts of the body. This procedure fills adds volume to areas that appear unshapely (for example the buttocks, breast or cheeks). Fat transfer is an effective way to reshape the body surgically.

 

What Body Parts are Ideal for Fat Grafting?

Fat grafting is an excellent option for someone who has aging creases and lines on their face or hollow cheeks. However, another area of the body that people request to have surgically contoured with fat grafting is the buttocks. Larger amounts of fat are moved to the buttocks to give it a more shapely appearance.

 

What is Liposuction?

Patients who have fat deposits that can’t be corrected by diet and exercise can take advantage of liposuction. Liposuction aka liposculpture is a body contouring procedure that removes fat via a vacuum like device, but it requires a significant level of experience and technique by the surgeon to achieve an outstanding result. The idea is to eliminate enough fat and thus contouring the body to a desirable shape.

 

What Body Parts are Ideal for Liposuction?

There are many parts of the body where liposuction is effective including the stomach, buttocks, thighs, knees, chin, cheeks, and upper arms. The most frequent requests for liposuction treatment are for the abdomen, buttocks, and thigh areas. However, this is very patient-dependent and not all patients are good candidates for this procedure.

 

Do People Have Both Liposuction and Fat Grafting Done?

Yes. It is common for a cosmetic surgery patient to want a larger amount of body contouring and thus take advantage of both procedures. For example, a plastic surgery patient who has more fat around the waist and a flatter buttocks might want to remove the fat from their abdomen and use it to create a perkier buttocks.

 

Although fat grafting and liposuction are both body contouring procedures, their differences are important to note. Dr. Shahram Salemy, a Seattle Plastic Surgeon, believes it is important to understand those differences before choosing the method that will ultimately provide plastic surgery patients the body they want.

 

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