Facial Fat Transfer
Why a lift alone can look hollow without restoring volume — how facial fat grafting works alongside a facelift.
What is facial fat transfer?
Facial fat transfer (also called fat grafting or lipofilling) takes a small amount of your own fat — usually from the abdomen, thighs or flanks — purifies it, and injects it in tiny amounts to restore volume in the face. Because it uses your own living tissue, the result is natural and, once the grafted fat establishes a blood supply, long-lasting.
Why combine it with a facelift?
This is one of the most important concepts on this site. Ageing is not only about sagging — the face also deflates, losing fat in the cheeks, temples and around the mouth and eyes. A facelift repositions tissue beautifully, but it cannot replace lost volume. A lifted but deflated face can look gaunt or skeletal.
Lifting addresses sagging; fat transfer addresses deflation. Combining the two — sometimes called a ‘volumetric’ or composite approach — is why modern facelift results look soft and rejuvenated rather than tight and hollow.
The procedure
Fat is harvested with gentle liposuction through tiny incisions, processed to concentrate the healthy fat cells, then injected through fine cannulas into the areas that have lost volume — commonly the cheeks, temples, tear troughs, and around the mouth. When done with a facelift it adds modest time to the operation and uses the same anaesthetic.
Recovery and how much fat survives
Expect swelling and some bruising at both the donor and recipient sites for a couple of weeks. Not all transferred fat survives: typically around 50–70% establishes a permanent blood supply, and the surgeon accounts for this by slightly over-filling. The fat that survives behaves like normal tissue and is permanent, though it can change with significant weight fluctuation.
Because survival is variable, a small number of patients choose a top-up session later. Discuss expected longevity and the chance of a second procedure at your consultation.
Common questions
They serve similar goals but differ. Fillers are quicker, non-surgical and temporary; fat transfer is surgical, uses your own tissue and can be permanent, making it well suited to combining with a facelift under one anaesthetic. For large-volume, long-term restoration, fat is often preferred.
The fat that survives the transfer — usually the majority — gains its own blood supply and is permanent. Some initial volume is lost in the first few months as non-surviving fat is reabsorbed, which is normal and expected.
Commonly the abdomen, flanks or inner thighs — wherever you have a suitable donor area. The amount removed is small and not intended as body contouring, though some patients appreciate the minor reduction.