Understanding Fat Transfer Breast Augmentation Risks

Women who want breast augmentation without implants increasingly turn to Chicago fat transfer breast augmentation. This procedure is performed to increase the size of the breasts naturally.

Instead of breast implants, the surgeon uses Chicago liposuction to remove fat from a problem area, like the abdomen or sides. Then, the fat is washed, processed, and injected into several parts of the breasts.

The result is a natural breast enhancement with less downtime and longer-term results than breast implants. Plus, you are using your own tissue and not putting an artificial implant in your body.

While fat transfer breast augmentation is safe, it’s still surgery, so there are risks. Before undergoing this procedure, it’s smart to review the possible health risks, which are outlined below.

Why Do Patients Want Fat Transfer Breast Augmentation?

Fat transfer breast augmentation isn’t as well-known as breast implants. But when given the option, many patients prefer fat transfer for these reasons:

• Prefer a natural appearance and feel
• Is considered safe and effective
• Uses their own fat tissue
• Slims the body while also increasing breast size
• Less scarring than with implants
• Less chance of rippling as with implants
• Faster recovery
• Fewer risks of complications than breast implants

However, not every patient is well suited for fat transfer breast augmentation. Therefore, you may want to pursue other options in these situations:

• You don’t have enough fat in other parts of the body to augment your breasts to the size you want.
• You want to increase the size of your breasts by more than one cup size.

The most significant risks of fat transfer breast augmentation are:

Infection

One of the most significant risks with any plastic surgery procedure is infection. However, fat transfer only has tiny incisions in the donor site and breasts, so the chances of infection are low.

Still, you should talk to your plastic surgeon about infection risks is you have a compromised immune system, smoke, or have had recent infections.

Fat Necrosis

When the fat is injected into the breasts, it needs to establish a blood supply to survive. So it’s essential to choose a board-certified plastic surgeon who knows how to inject the fat in a way that ensures most of the fat survives.

However, in some patients, fat necrosis or fat death can happen. This is one of the larger risks of fat transfer breast augmentation.

This complication happens when the transferred fat doesn’t receive an adequate blood supply after it is transferred. In addition, dead fat cells can cause complications, such as hard lumps and bubbles in the breast tissue.

If you experience fat necrosis, you could have some of these symptoms:

• Lumps that are painful to the touch
• Calcified lumps
• Oily cystic lumps
• Redness and irritation near the lumps
• Excessive scar tissue
• Pain in other parts of the breast
• Uneven appearance of skin
• Changes in the appearance or shape of the breasts

One of the challenges with this condition is the lumps from fat necrosis could resemble breast cancer. So your physician will need to examine them to ensure you don’t have a malignancy.

Once it’s established that the lumps are from fat transfer, you can talk about a treatment plan with your physician.

Fortunately, some fat necrosis lumps resolve by themselves. So as long as the lumps don’t hurt or are causing other problems, you may leave them alone and see if they go away.

But if the fat necrosis lumps caused excessive pain or other issues, you may need surgery to remove them.

Your surgeon will provide you with a local anesthetic and use an ultrasound to locate the lumps. Then they’re dissolved and removed with a small needle.

If you have too many problems with fat necrosis, you may need traditional Chicago breast augmentation.

Fat Reabsorption

One of the advantages of this procedure is the surgeon uses your own fat to augment your breasts. While your body won’t reject your fat, it can be reabsorbed after the procedure.

Some surgeons say your body may reabsorb up to 50% of the injected fat. This means it can be challenging to gauge how much fat should be injected for the best results.

Your board-certified plastic surgeon will have a good idea how much fat to inject, though. Keep in mind that your breasts may look larger than you expected after surgery because the surgeon injected more fat than necessary.

This is done because the surgeon knows some fat will be reabsorbed. If a lot of fat is reabsorbed, you may need another procedure to give you the size you want. But this can increase the risk of fat necrosis.

Fat Migration

Some patients report that fat may leave the breasts after the procedure and migrate to another part of the body.

Fat Grafting And Weight Loss

Some surgeons have voiced concern about removing fat from an area where you gain weight, such as the abdomen, and injecting it into the breasts.

The concern is if the injected fat will continue to increase in size in the breasts. Unfortunately, there has been little research on this issue so far.

Fat transfer breast augmentation offers an all-natural way to increase your breast size without implants. If you are interested in a small increase and size and want natural breast augmentation could be the way to go!

So talk to your surgeon today to determine if this procedure is appropriate for you.

Request A Fat Transfer Breast Augmentation Consultation

Thinking about fat transfer breast augmentation in Chicago? Dr. Otto Placik is proud to serve Chicago area patients at his practice. He’ll go over the options, goals, and more to determine if you’re an ideal candidate for breast augmentation.

References 

Fat Transfer Breast Augmentation Risks. (n.d.). Accessed at https://www.healthline.com/health/womens-health/fat-transfer-breast-augmentation-risks

Fat Transfer Breast Augmentation Safety. (n.d.). Accessed at https://www.plasticsurgery.org/cosmetic-procedures/fat-transfer-breast-augmentation/safety