TUESDAY, July 14, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Most U.S. plastic surgeons use fat grafting to enhance the effects of facelifts, according to a new survey. The findings were published in the July issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
The researchers surveyed a random sample of members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons about their use of fat grafting for facelifts. Three hundred nine members responded. The investigators found that 85.2 percent of the surgeons polled reported using fat grafting during facelifts. Meanwhile, more than 70 percent of the doctors surveyed said they began using fat grafting to the face within the past decade.
Fat was often collected from the abdomen and injected into the face in tiny amounts -- typically no more than a few teaspoons, the researchers said in a journal news release. Fat was often used in the cheeks, and was also commonly used below the lower eyelids or in the folds between the nose and the corners of the mouth, according to the research team led by Sammy Sinno, M.D., a plastic surgeon at New York University in New York City.
Although some injected fat is reabsorbed by the body over time, the surgeons surveyed believed that most of the fat was still in place up to one year following a facelift. Follow-up procedures were also performed to refine the results around four to six months after the initial procedure. The doctors surveyed said patient satisfaction rates were good.
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