ENHANCED FAT INJECTIONS

Perhaps the most exciting medical discovery of the 21st century so far is that we adult human beings have millions of cells in our fat which have the potential of becoming most, if not all, of the cell types in our body, from nerves to liver to breast to skin .
Cells from bone marrow and from newborn umbilical cord blood have been infused as a part of the treatment of blood diseases like leukemia for many years. These cells have the potential to become any of the cells which make up blood. Some bone marrow cells can also become bone and blood vessels.

We have been hearing about the potential of embryonic cells for years. These cells are the most basic of all human cells. They comprise the cells of the very early microscopic embryo. They give rise to all the cells of our body. As the embryo grows, these cells undergo dramatic changes to become specific tissues and organs of the body. Embryonic cells are called pluripotent because they can become all the different types of adult tissue cells.

The recent discovery of ADULT CELLS in our body is fantastic. These adult fat cells are near, if not equal to the pluripotent power of the embryonic cells. What is even more fantastic is that these cells reside in our fat by the millions and they maintain their pluripotent ability well into old age.

Enhanced fat injections have been shown to restore a youthful contour to the face like no other filler. The cells do not go away after a few months. Enhanced fat injections are used to fill hollows around the eyes, cheeks, parenthesis lines, and lips. The skin overlying areas of enhanced fat injection seems to improve in texture and elasticity in a number of instances, such as when injected in the face and back of the hand. Enhanced fat injections are a natural way to improve the contour of the buttock, breast and other areas of the body. We are just beginning to realize the potential cosmetic applications.

The cosmetic uses of enhanced fat injections is only the tip of the iceberg.
Although only recently discovered, cells from fat are used to soften and mature scars such as burn scars, scars from trauma and scarring from radiation. Enhanced fat injections offer new hope for women who have breast deformity resulting from prior breast lumpectomy and radiation and for patients with other areas of radiation injury. Enhanced fat injections in the hand have reversed the deformity of Dupuytren’s contracture. Tomorrow, we will be finding applications unimagined today.  There is an explosion of adult cells fat research in the US, Italy, France, Australia, Spain, South Korea, Japan and other areas of the world. New discoveries are being published in the medical literature every month.

At Aesthetic Surgery of Tucson, since the beginning of 2010, we have been removing fat using syringes and special needles with a technique called needle liposuction. The fat is then placed in a centrifuge to concentrate the cells contained in the fat. Between 10% and 30% of the volume of fat removed is used for enhanced fat injections, depending on the appearance of the centrifuged material. The rest of the material is discarded. Many procedures can be done under local anesthesia.