cute_lil_fiend Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 Okay guys. It’s been 1 month 2 weeks out from my full face fat graft, and this review has been a long time coming. I struggled to find info on fat grafting results, specifically long-term follow up info from patients, most of whom seemed to disappear post-surgery. Consequently, I will be documenting how well my fat graft holds up at a my 3, 6, and 1 year post-op on my fat grafting blog (https://seoulcity2017.wixsite.com/seoulcityofdreams). Personal Concerns: Loss of mid-face volume, which made me look tired and older, was my main concern. My forehead was rather bony, which in turn accentuated my brow ridge and gave my profile a more masculine look. Hollow temples also accentuated my zygoma and made them look larger than they were. Lastly, I wanted to subtly augment my chin without resorting to more invasive procedures like using an implant or bone surgery.Clinics consulted: During face to face consultations, I consulted with 8 specifically for fat grafting (MVP, Hershe, Fresh, GNG, KHS, Wannabe, Iwell, Faceline).Price range: -PRP fat grafting price range 2-5 million krw -Stem cell fat grafting 2.9 to 10 million krwMy takeaways from consultations: -stem cell fat grafting-Stem cell fat grafting protocol can vary significantly from clinic to clinic, as there is no standardized protocol. One clinic, Hershe, claimed they would use “donor” stem cells, which goes against common practice, and was very vague about the provenance of such cells and their claimed function. Buyer beware! -PRP-enriched fat grafting-PRP seems to be the new standard for fat grafting. Scientific studies have shown a that PRP (a component of blood) boosts healing. Some scientific articles show a significant increase in fat retention vs regular fat grafting. Jury is still out on how much difference there is between PRP and stem cell fat grafting, but I decided on PRP as it was only a bit more expensive than regular fat grafting, so what do I have to lose? -claims of how much fat is retained varies widely between clinics. Some say up to 90%+ for the forehead, others 10% or less for the chin and nasolabial lines, but IMO retention rate estimates are hard to assess accurately. Generally, the forehead and midface (structures not subject to much movement) will retain fat the best, while temple, nasolabial lines, and chin will retain less fat because they are subject to more movement. Fat survival also depends on personal factors like metabolism, habits (smoking, drinking, etc), aftercare, and surgeon technique and skill. Generally, results are said to stabilize between 3-6 months.Procedure: I had (my first) full face PRP-enriched full face grafting done in Korea at GNG with Dr. Kim. My main areas of concern were my forehead and midface (specifically tear troughs, deficient mid-face volume when viewed in profile), as well as temples, underneath the cheekbones, nasolabial lines, and chin.Immediately Post-op: Post-surgery, my face felt like it was swollen incredibly tight, so tight that the top of my scalp felt numb. You literally feel like you’re wearing someone else’s face over your own, and I struggled with facial expression. My nose tip was pulled up slightly by the fat graft to the forehead. Fortunately I didn’t bruise much, except slightly at the fat injection sites, which they covered with small square hydrocolloid bandages. Dr. Kim harvested donor fat from my outer thighs via liposuction through bilateral ~1 cm long incisions at the groin. Compression tape was placed over the harvest sites, but I still sustained heavy bruising. The pain from liposuction was probably the worst part of fat grafting, and varied from a dull, sore (like you jogged 10 miles the day before) sensation to occasional bouts of sharp, short, stabbing pain. I also had jaw muscle and frown line (11s) botox.2 weeks out: By 2 weeks, my previously hard grafted fat areas has started to “fluff and drop”, and feel more natural. Initially I had worried about the amount and placement of fat, because I could feel a thick ridge under my eyes that went right up to the lower border of my eye socket bone and made my eyes look sunken, but now this was becoming less obvious by the day. I was still visibly swollen, but unless people knew me, they wouldn’t know that I’d gotten anything done.1 month out: My forehead was moving normally at this point, and I began to notice that my forehead botox seemed not to have had its intended effect. I could still wrinkle my forehead as much as before. When I discussed this with GNG, they agreed that this was unusual and offered to redo the botox on my next trip to Korea, but unfortunately I’m not sure when that will be. I really liked the look of my fat graft at this point. It was mostly gone from my temples and underneath my cheekbones, but everywhere else I saw improvement compared to pre-surgery.1.5 months out: Fat volume has gone down a bit compared to 1 month post-op, albeit at a slower rate. I’m happiest with the improvement to my forehead and tear trough/midface region, which looks less sunken when viewed in profile. My chin has held up quite nicely as well, with maybe about 1-2 mm of projection gained in profile. Overall I’m quite happy with the fat graft results and looking forward to how it will hold up long term.Aftercare: I was told to stop smoking and drinking before surgery day, and to abstain after surgery for at least a month. No saunas, steam rooms, heavy exercise, or any other activity that could potentially increase metabolism, and no putting pressure on the grafted areas.Side effects: I experienced some numbness of my front upper thigh area where my fat was harvested from, the left more profoundly than the right. Numbness is a known side effect of liposuction, so I wasn’t too surprised, but it seems that after a month there hasn’t been much improvement in sensation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft1212 Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 * edited because my structure is messy af Hello thanks for sharing! And congrats on your great outcome! I'm interested in fat graft, but it's an unanticipated interest that has grew when I'm doing research for rhino. As rhino is my first concern, I'm thinking of doing far graft later (when I have done more research and thought more carefully about it); but I have been told that we should do face profile first then nose in order to create a balance profile. So would you say that doing rhino then face profile is a bad idea? Especially when consultants have commented that my current face profile is not suitable for dramatic rhino (and I want dramatic rhino). Besides, I was told that most people need at least twice fat graft unless they don't need to add too much volume to their face.. Is that somewhat correct? And also will you lose volume on your face if you lose weight later, as you can't control where to lose your fats? And also how long did the bruising on your thigh last? Did the harvest make your thigh smaller somehow (it'd be a good side effect for me xD). Sorry for my long-ass question! And thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alara Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 I thought stem cell and prp face grafting was the same omg. I did a prp fat graft 2 years ago but told the doc that I don't want to do my forehead area which I regret not doing sigh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alara Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 probably right.. I did a fat graft 2 years ago, it's still way better than how my face looked like, but lost a good amount of the fat at the nasolabial folds area and cheeks. the doctor did tell me that the nasolabial folds were going to show sooner or later because we move our mouths a lot (chew, talk etc) I'm actually thinking of doing it again, but not in a rush for it.... and the bruising... ahh I think it depends from one person to another. my skin is terrible, I'm anemic, I bruise easily. the bruise lasted more than a year :S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute_lil_fiend Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 I'm assuming that you're referring to your silhouette as seen from the side? Your nose is a major contributor to your facial profile, so IMHO there is no reason why the two procedures can't be done together to optimize the final aesthetic outcome. Also, without knowing what your current facial profile is, I can't really comment either way. Correct. Clinics will say that at least 2 grafts are needed because a) clinics tend to graft conservatively, as correcting an overfilled face is much harder to deal with than adding fat to an underfilled face and b) fat survival is unpredictable and varies from individual to individual, so any areas of poor retention or asymmetry can be addressed during subsequent grafting procedures. I'm not sure how much weight fluctuations affect facial fat volume, but at least a couple of fat graft docs on realself have stated that it doesn't impact facial fat volume too much if weight loss is not too dramatic (ie. 10-15 lb range). The last of the bruising disappeared at around the 2 week mark. Less than 100 cc total of fat was taken from both thighs, so not enough to have any noticeable effect, unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gats Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 Thanks for the review! I have a few questions: For the places you consulted, did you discuss what donor site they would use? Did the opinion vary on what to use? Did you just go in for 1 consultation and then the next time you went it was for surgery? Was there any postop treatments you went in for? Or once the surgery is over, that was last time you saw them? Did you avoid going outside after surgery because of how swelled your face was? If so, how many days? Is there any scarring from the injection points on your face or on your legs? How many days do you think it's necessary to stay in Korea for FG? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mintsweet Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I'm thinking about having thigh liposuction as well and if the numbness last for 1 month just for harvest fat and I can't imagine how painful for liposuction... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caro89 Posted August 14, 2017 Share Posted August 14, 2017 Hello, How is your the face fat grafting until now? Can you please tell why you didn't go with Fresh? I went for a consultation at Fresh I liked it but I'm also looking at other clinics and searching in order to make the correct choice. Until now I have not found anything negative about Fresh... For how long do we have to avoid physical exercice after fat grafting? Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute_lil_fiend Posted August 14, 2017 Author Share Posted August 14, 2017 My doctor recommended that I use the outer thighs. I had initially wanted the fat taken from the inner thighs (just in case there was unevenness, it wouldn't be as big a deal aesthetically), but she said that the quality of fat may be different, and she would try, but would ultimately harvest the fat from the area that had the "best" fat. Not too sure exactly what "best" refers to, and didn't have the chance to ask her. I ended up having 2 liposuction sites (inner and outer thighs) because apparently the fat from my inner thighs wasn't up to snuff. I did 2 consultations with my chosen clinic, though the 2nd time I only met with the consultant and translator, not the surgeon. GNG also offers hyperbaric oxygen treatment and infrared light treatments to aid in deswelling post-op. I came back for 2 sessions of each, but some people have mentioned they were able to request for more frequent treatments. I was pretty swollen for the first week following surgery. Nonetheless I went out everywhere and took the metro. I'm not very self-conscious, and wanted to make the most of my time in Korea, so why the hell not. Sales reps in Myeongdong beauty shops were hardcore trying to push all this healing products on me bc it was obvious I had had fat grafting done recently. Good question about the scarring. Facial scarring is very faint, just slight points of darker skin at the injection sites as I would with scabbed acne, hardly noticeable. Scarring at the groin is hypertrophic. I can feel some lumpiness underneath the skin, which developed about 3 weeks post-op. Asians are more prone to hypertrophic and keloid scarring, esp on the thighs/trunk areas, so keep that in mind. I'm currently using silicon scar tape, and it seems to be helping. I stayed in Korea for a week post-op. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gats Posted August 15, 2017 Share Posted August 15, 2017 Yes I have a hypertrophic scar from a cut so I'm familiar with them unfortunately. I've read to decrease the change of them developing, in addition to the silicone scar tape, you want pressure on the scar to decrease the likelihood the scar becomes raised above your original skin surface. So some time of compression on the tape like from a tight garment could do that. Also you want to massage the scar as often you can each day to break up the scare tissue. Good luck on your healing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naturallook Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 Ok these may be silly questions but... What does your forehead feel like post FG? If you press on your forehead with a finger... does does it feel soft and mushy like pressing down on your cheek? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalhearts Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 From my memory it felt hard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m-andre Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 how much did you pay for the fat grafting? I'm planning to do one next year to augment the size of my frontal cheekbone area cause is swollen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalhearts Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Two years ago I paid 1,500,000 won at Wannabe. They were having a be promotion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrid07 Posted August 21, 2017 Share Posted August 21, 2017 Thank you for your long review! However, I was told that inner thighs is the best donor site but I think it depends on clinics and doctors. How much do you think your fat left so far? Can you give me percentage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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