Dr. Sam Lam Plastic Surgery Forum

I think you mentioned this somewhere on your website but i could not remember. How does weight gain/loss affect the facial fat grafts? Is it better to have the fat grafts done when you are thinner or heavier? My weight tends to fluctuate by 10-15 lbs, depending on the season. I am 5'5" with median weight 135.

Second question - does previous liposuction prohibit using that area for fat grafting?

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

In answer to your question, weight gain does affect fat grafting results since the transplanted fat is a live graft. All my consent forms and instructions mention this fact. Generally speaking, I will not perform fat grafting on someone obese or wildly fluctuating in weight. My ballpark rule is that someone 30 pounds or more overweight is probably not a good candidate for this procedure. Even if they lost the weight, they can gain it back and then look puffy. Sometimes operative intervention like lap-banding, which we have upstairs in our building, can be helpful to establish more consistency in one's weight if all other measures fail. Proper counseling and preoperative selection are important in every case. Obviously, patient consent based on an informed decision is also important.

In your case, 10 to 15 pounds will most likely not make a considerable difference. I don't feel strongly whether you are on one side or the other of that scale as that is usually not a huge weight fluctuation.

As far as the liposuction is concerned, ideally I prefer virgin territories but it is not a problem if there is residual fat there for me still to harvest. It is just a bit harder to harvest.
best,
sml