Advertisements are appearing promising breast enlargements accomplished through injections of your own body fat. This almost sounds too good to be true. After all, they claim that your unwanted body fat can be removed with liposuction and then injected into your breasts to augment them.
This raises many questions including:
1. Is this legit?
2. Is it safe?
3. Is it an approved or mainstream option/procedure?
4. What kind of results can be expected?
5. Do they look natural?
6. Do they feel natural?
7. Are there certain individuals more likely to obtain a better result?
8. How long does this last?
9. Are there limitations to the size that can be obtained?
10. Can this be performed in one procedure or does it require multiple procedures?
11. Can this procedure make it more difficult to interpret mammograms?
12. Is there any evidence that these injections may increase the risk for breast cancer?
13. Who should not be considered a candidate?
14. What are the total costs?
15. How do the total expected costs compare to those of a breast augmentation using silicone implants?
16. What are the complications and their rates of incidence?
These are just some of the important questions that need to be considered with fat injections for breast augmentation. There have been several studies conducted and case reports of various techniques that have been employed to perform this procedure but no large scale prospective studies completed using well controlled variables. With time answers to all of these questions will be forthcoming and more definitive.
Fat injections to obtain breast enlargement is not a mainstream procedure (at least not at present) and should only be contemplated with extreme caution as there are far too many unanswered questions and issues of risk and outcome that have not been definitively resolved. It is clearly not an option in thin individuals with little body fat and should not be contemplated in women who are at a higher risk for the development of breast cancer.
As more research is completed and questions are answered, I will report them to you in future posts. Clearly, this may someday be an exciting and great option for certain groups of women.
If you would information on a breast enlargement or any other plastic surgery procedure that I perform or to schedule a complimentary consultation with me, you can contact my office at 480-451-3000.
Steven H. Turkeltaub, M.D. P.C.
Scottsdale and Phoenix, Arizona