Fat is a natural substance that your body needs to function. It’s a way to store essential fatty acids that the body can’t create on its own. Essentially, our body fat provides fuel to energize the body, helps your body to absorb vital nutrients, promotes cell growth, manages blood pressure and cholesterol, and helps to protect the organs. In plastic surgery, fat is often used in fat grafting procedures that involve transferring living fat cells from one area of the body to another as a way of enhancing contours. What we sometimes get asked by people who are contemplating fat transfer—and specifically breast enhancement surgery—is, “Is it better to get implants or fat transfer?” Our Milwaukee-area patients at Parkins Plastic Surgery have a variety of options available if they want to enhance the size and shape of their breasts, as well as experienced guidance when it comes to choosing which approach will be best for them.
Some people may want to get larger breasts without implants and are curious about whether fat transfer breast augmentation would be a more “natural” alternative to the insertion of traditional saline and silicone devices.
Here’s what patients should know about fat transfer breast augmentation and how it compares to using breast implants.
As mentioned before, fat transfer—otherwise known as fat grafting—involves the transfer of living fat cells from a part of the body where you have an excess that you don’t want. Donor areas are very often the abdomen or thighs. Liposuction is used to remove the fat cells. This fat is then refined and injected into the breasts to enhance them. The procedure can be ideal for a person who wants a small increase in breast size and is hoping for very natural, subtle results.
Since the fat from a patient’s own body is used—no foreign substances needed—this procedure is overall a more natural approach when compared to implants. However, fat transfer breast augmentation should not be thought of as interchangeable with breast implants since the results are not as dramatic.
Some patients find an ideal middle ground by getting implants, then using fat transfer to “soften” the results.
Talk to our team at Parkins Plastic Surgery to learn about the pros and cons of each option if you’re planning to have breast augmentation. Call us at (262) 269-1050 or submit a contact form to schedule an appointment if you want to discuss different forms of breast surgery.
