Question:
Do you ever use fat transfer during blepharoplasty? I have hollow circles under my eyes and think that a little bit of fat injected in that area might help. If this is done, how long do the effects last?
Answer:
We perform fat transfer over 95% of the time during our lower eyelid blepharoplasties. On occasion we will use the lower eyelid fat and reposition it into the hollow circles but in most cases there is not enough available to do this. In most cases of lower eyelid blepharoplasty, we do not perform the removal of the lower eyelids at all but rather only a fat transfer. The fat transfer is performed by harvesting fat from the trunk or lower extremity area with a small quarter inch incision. Once the fat has been processed with a special filtration bag it is inserted into the face using a very small blunt cannula. There is some variability from patient to patient in the survival of transferred fat however overall the results are excellent and the fat that survives will last for many years.
Posted by Dr. Buckingham