Question: People seem to use injectable fillers more than fat transfer but I don’t understand why. Doesn’t fat transfer last longer? Isn’t it possibly permanent?
Answer: I think the main reason that fillers are so popular is two-fold. One is that they are right off the shelf, so there is no need to harvest fat and, therefore, individuals who are not trained in aesthetic medicine and, therefore, would not feel comfortable harvesting fat can just grab a filler off the shelf and use this product in place of fat grafting. The second issue is that it does involve liposuction from another area and the collection and purification of the fat prior to reinjecting it and is, therefore, much more costly than fillers and requires expertise in this technique. Ultimately, if someone requires a large volume of facial augmentation, I certainly will discuss fat grafting with them since the fat grafting becomes very economical in that circumstance since multiple syringes of filler can get quite pricey. If a patient just needs a small amount of volumetric enhancement then most likely it would just be easier to use filler since the higher cost of fat transfer for just a small amount of fat would most likely outweigh its benefit.