LAM FACIAL PLASTICS

Dr Lam. I've posted before, and you always give very clear answers. So here's another question! I'm interested in what happens between the 1 week and 3 week (or a month) stage of recovery after fat transfer.
It seems that you've observed your patients are often still "too swollen" after one week. Why do they find they start liking their results at 3 weeks/1 month? Is it because even more trapped fluid leaves the disturbed tissuein this time? That some more of the fat dissipates in this time? What causes this?
In my experience (but i stress to other readers, you did not operate on me!) I was still too swollen and looked odd at one week. My face looked wide, particularly at the top of my cheeks. (My surgeon told me this was still swelling and i should not be concerned.)

Thanks Dr Lam. Keep up the good work!

i cannot speak for other surgeons' work. i typically have about half the swelling than most surgeons because i use a lot less fat to do the job. plus by doing a deeper sedation i use no anesthetics in the face meaning that there is less swelling and bruising since i use no needles at all under the skin. that being said, the reason that a month looks good is twofold:
1. the swelling is gone for the most part and the fat cells have not begun to shrink a bit between months 1 to 3. after that as you know the fat cells gain blood supply and they start to look better and better after the 6th month.
2. the other reason is that the skin is still stretched out so the wrinkles and pores are gone. this is an artifact, meaning that it is fake.
those are my thoughts that really only apply to my patients.
best,
sml