Taken From One Place, Put Somewhere Better
Your own fat harvested, processed and grafted, so what gets placed is entirely yours.
Two Procedures in One
Fat transfer harvests fat by liposuction from an area where you have some to spare, processes it to separate viable fat cells from fluid and debris, and grafts it in small amounts into the area that needs volume.
The appeal is straightforward. What gets placed is your own tissue, so there is no foreign material, no product to dissolve and no risk of reaction to a filler. Fat also carries regenerative cells, and many patients notice skin quality improves in the grafted area alongside the volume change.
The variable that defines this procedure is graft survival. Not every transferred fat cell establishes a blood supply in its new home. A meaningful proportion is reabsorbed over the first months, which is why the result is judged at three months rather than at three weeks, and why some people need a second session.
A Good Fit If Any of This Sounds Familiar
You need enough donor fat to harvest. Very lean patients are sometimes not candidates.
Three Steps, Start to Finish
We Plan Both Ends
Where fat comes from and where it goes. Both matter and both are discussed.
Harvest, Process, Graft
Gentle harvesting and careful processing protect cell viability. Placement is in small amounts across multiple passes so each parcel can find a blood supply.
We Assess at Three Months
Once reabsorption has finished. Judging earlier tells you nothing reliable, and topping up early is a mistake.
Some of It Will Not Survive
That is not a complication, it is the biology. Any surgeon who does not mention reabsorption before the procedure is not preparing you properly.
Swelling at Both Ends
Why Graft Survival Is the Whole Question
Transferred fat has no blood supply at the moment it is placed. It survives initially by diffusion from surrounding tissue and must establish vascular connections within days to persist. This is why fat is grafted in small parcels across multiple passes rather than in a single bolus. A large lump has a center that no diffusion can reach.
Harvesting technique, processing method and injection technique all influence viability. Excessive suction pressure, rough handling and over processing damage cells before they are ever placed.
Fat also contains adipose derived stromal cells with regenerative properties, which is the likely reason skin quality often improves in grafted areas beyond the volume effect alone. Risks include partial reabsorption requiring a second session, irregularity, oil cyst formation and asymmetry.
What People Ask Us First
A meaningful proportion is reabsorbed over the first months and the rest persists long term. We will give you an honest expectation and we deliberately over correct to account for it.
Some people do. We plan for that possibility rather than promising a single procedure and revisiting the conversation later.
It is different. It is your own tissue and permanent, which suits some people. It also requires a surgical procedure and carries reabsorption uncertainty that filler does not.
Usually the abdomen or flanks. We will discuss the donor site with you, since you get a small contouring benefit there as well.
Surviving grafted fat behaves like the tissue it came from, so significant weight change can affect it the same way.
Often Considered Alongside This
Your Own Tissue, Placed Where You Want It.
Come in and we will tell you whether you have enough to harvest and whether the result would justify the procedure.
4211 N. Buffalo Road, Suite 15, Orchard Park, NY 14127
