Have you ever looked at your reflection in the mirror and wished that you could transfer fat from one part of your body to another? If so, you may be an ideal candidate for a fat transfer at The Dermatology, Laser & Vein Center in Cincinnati, OH. Today, we’re looking at how long the process takes, what you can expect during the process and much more to help you determine if it is the ideal aesthetic service for you.
How Long Does a Fat Transfer Take?
A fat transfer generally takes between one and four hours. How long the process takes depends on several factors, particularly the volume of fat you have in the donor area or areas and the size of the area receiving the donation. For example, if you transfer a small volume of fat from your abdomen to your breasts, your process may only take an hour. However, if you are getting a buttock augmentation, your process can take around four hours.
What Happens During the Process?
Essentially, there are four steps to the fat transfer process. First, we clean the donor area or areas and the recipient area. Once that is done, we will numb either the targeted sites or your entire body. The second step of the process is to perform Smart Lipo on the donor regions to suction out excess fat cells.
Once those fat cells are removed, the strongest, healthiest ones are separated from the damaged, dead ones. The strongest, healthiest fat cells are then cleaned. Once they are cleaned, they are drawn up into a syringe and injected into the recipient area.
What to Expect During Liposuction
Liposuction is a fat removal procedure that was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in the 1970s. Today, despite all of the alternatives to the procedure, it is still considered to be the gold standard in fat removal. A single session can remove between 10 and 11 pounds of fat depending on the volume of excess fat you have in the region targeted for fat removal and your BMI.
Your BMI, or body mass index, is an indicator of how much weight your body has relative to your height. For nearly the entire population, it is an excellent indicator of how much body fat you have. If your BMI is on the low end of the normal range, we cannot safely remove a very large volume of fat.
Is Smart Liposuction Painful?
Smart Lipo is not painful or uncomfortable at all. Since there are no incisions, there is no need for general anesthesia or local anesthesia. Depending on your tolerance to warmth, you may want a topical anesthetic to ensure that the outer layers of your skin remain comfortable throughout the entire treatment process.
Regarding the effects of Smart Lipo on the deeper layers of your skin, our clients report that the fat removal treatment feels like a hot stone massage. The warmth is relaxing and will leave you feeling relaxed, refreshed, and reinvigorated.
Which Areas Can I Have Fat Removed From?
An incredibly compelling benefit of Smart Lipo is that it can remove fat from virtually any part of your body. For example, traditional liposuction cannot safely and effectively remove excess fat from smaller regions of your body with ease and accuracy. Smart Lipo can.
Which Areas Can Be Augmented With Fat Grafting?
You can augment virtually any part of your body with fat grafting. For example, if you have enough excess fat, we can remove enough fat to augment the cheeks and breasts or the buttocks. If you want to use fat grafting to enhance the appearance of your muscles, the appropriate aesthetic service for you may be EMSCULPT.
What Is EMSCULPT?
EMSCULPT is a revolutionary cosmetic treatment that, on average, results in a fat reduction of 19% and a muscle mass increase of 16%. This versatile, non-invasive treatment requires no surgery, needles or anesthesia and is often used to sculpt the male chest and the female abdomen and buttocks.
Good Candidates for EMSCULPT
As with any aesthetic treatment, you need to schedule an in-person or virtual consultation to determine if it is the right treatment to achieve your aesthetic goals. When determining who is a good candidate for this treatment, we look for an individual who wants to sculpt his or her body by simultaneously building muscle and removing excess fat from a particular location.
Keep in mind, the treatment causes muscle contractions equivalent to 20,000 squats, tricep dips, or situps, so you may want to schedule this treatment on a Friday and spend the weekend recovering.
How Long Do the Results of Fat Grafting Last?
The results of liposuction are considered permanent because your body can’t grow new fat cells. Therefore, once fat cells are removed from the donor site, there will permanently be fewer fat cells in the area. This means that even if you gain weight after the process, you will never have the same volume in the donor areas as you did pre-op.
Regarding the duration of the donation results, this is really up to you. It takes several weeks for the transferred fat cells to connect to the local blood supply and take hold. Once these grafted white fat cells take hold, they will live forever. However, if you lose fat, you may notice the volume in the recipient area lessens.
How to Ensure the Longest Lasting Results
To ensure the longest-lasting results, it is crucial that you do not lose fat. In other words, you need to know how many calories your body needs for fuel daily and consume at least that many calories. If you’re confused about your daily energy needs, ask your primary care physician for a referral to a licensed specialist who can help you.
If you’re confident you know your daily caloric needs, but you’re not sure your nutrition is on point, seek help from a licensed nutritionist. A licensed nutritionist will ensure that you are consuming enough calories each day while getting the nutrition you need.
Good Candidates for This Process
The only way to determine if you are a good candidate for this process is to come in for an initial consultation. During this initial consultation, we will review your medical history and assess your current health to ensure that you are healthy enough to undergo the process.
We will also discuss your aesthetic goals, assess the physical structure and health of your skin, and assess the volume of fat deposits you have in your desired donor areas. Here are a few of the things we look for to determine who is a good candidate for this process:
Your Overall Health
The first thing we look for in a good candidate is fairly good overall health. For the fastest, smoothest recovery, you should be in fairly decent health. For example, if you have suffered from a viral or bacterial infection within the last two weeks, you should wait for your body to heal completely.
The Health of Your Skin
Another thing we look for to determine who is a good candidate for this process is healthy skin. Liposuction can remove up to 11 pounds of excess fat in a single session. If you lose this much fat from one area, your skin will be loose if it is not healthy enough. Essentially, we’re looking for individuals with decent skin elasticity. Your skin should snap back into place quickly after being pinched away from your body.
If your skin slowly returns to its proper position against your body after being pinched up and released, you may need a skin tightening procedure or treatment designed to encourage collagen growth. Collagen is the protein that, among other roles, keeps your skin tight. If we find that you have lax skin, we can advise you on how to proceed.
What to Do if Your Skin Is Too Loose
If your skin is loose, don’t lose hope that you’ll be able to contour the body of your dreams. We offer several non-invasive skin tightening treatments, including Exilis Elite, Skin Tyte, ThermiSmooth, and Vanquish. If you need an extremely significant boost in skin tightness, you may be a better candidate for ThermiTight, ThermiLift or ThermiRF. Dr. Shalini Gupta will advise you of the appropriate method for you based on your aesthetic goals and personal preferences.
A Caveat
We find it crucial to reiterate that we use Smart Lipo rather than traditional liposuction. There are several advantages to using this type of fat removal. One of the primary advantages is that the deep warmth from the laser light energy encourages collagen induction, tightening the skin. Therefore, you may not even need a skin tightening treatment before your fat grafting to be a good candidate.
Your Body Fat Distribution
We also look at the body fat distribution of a potential candidate. If you have small amounts of fat distributed among several parts of your body, it can be incredibly difficult to collect enough fat for transfer. Therefore, we may need to remove fat cells from several donor sites or you may be a poor candidate.
However, ensuring you have enough localized fat for a quick, convenient donation isn’t the only thing we look at. We also need to ensure that you don’t have too much fat. If you have too much fat in the desired donor area, the results of liposuction may not be satisfactory or you may be too unhealthy for the process.
How Much Will This Service Cost?
How much the service costs depends on its complexity. While aesthetic services are not covered under health insurance plans, you don’t have to worry about paying for the service upfront. If you’d rather cash-flow the treatment, we work with CareCredit, a financing institution that exists solely to help people finance their cosmetic and medical treatments and procedures.
One of the most exciting things about CareCredit is its interest-free period if you pay within the six- to 18-month promotional period. Despite paying with a “credit card,” you will not be charged a penny in interest. As excitingly, even if you finance your aesthetic services over 60 months (five years), you will not be charged as much interest as a traditional credit card would charge you.
Discover the Path to a Brand New You Today
Do you think your self-confidence would improve if you received a fat transfer? If so, contact our experts at The Dermatology, Laser & Vein Center in Cincinnati, OH to book an appointment. We can’t wait to meet you and help you determine the ideal aesthetic services to help you achieve the self-esteem you deserve.
If you are trying to increase muscle tone while burning fat in the same area, such as your upper arms, chest, calves, thighs, buttocks, or core, you may be a better candidate for EMSCULPT. Regardless of the aesthetic goals you are trying to achieve, we have a solution for you.
