Can Breast Enlargement With Own Fat Tissue Replace Prosthesis?
– A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT.
Oslo Plastic Surgery, 0256 Oslo
Introduction: For many years, fat transplantation has been a well-known and proven clinical method for filling small defects. Attention to this technique has increased in recent years in the use of face and breast reconstruction. In some cases, the breast fat was used by hypoplasia mammae as an alternative to breast implants.
Patients: Since October 2008, Oslo Plastic Surgery has performed 17 breast enlargements using its own adipose tissue in patients with hypoplasia, asymmetry and in a few cases by breast lift. Patients had to fulfill certain criteria to be candidates for this type of surgery:
– Strong desire for breast enlargement without the use of foreign bodies.
– Adequate amounts of fat at one or more donor sites; areas the patient initially wanted to correct and not just use as a donor site.
– A realistic notion of volume increase of the breasts.
Method: The operations were performed under sedation and local anesthesia. The fat was most often taken from the stomach, waist, thighs, seat or knee. The fat is centrifuged for 3 minutes at 3,000 rpm. The fat was injected into the intersecting and parallel channels of the fascia below the mammary gland, through small incisions using Coleman’s injection cannula. A loose bra was used that does not press at the top or against the inside of the breasts.
Result: No infection or bleeding has been reported.
The average follow-up time was 10.5 months. (6-22). Average fat extracted: 787 ml (500-1320). Average injected fat into the left breast: 219 ml (150-290), right breast: 221 ml (155-290). The resorption of fat was, as expected, about 40 % , but for 3 of the patients, the resorption was greater than 70 % The patients were therefore offered a new injection within one year. Instead, two of the patients chose to insert breast prostheses because there was insufficient donor fat and because the same type of surgery was not present.
Discussion: Most have been very positive about the procedure. Benefits are natural feel, better filling in the upper pole, asymmetry and to the inside of the chest. Furthermore, there is no risk of capsule formation and the patient gets corrected unwanted fat. However, it is far from everyone who has got the desired breast volume. The method is still in the establishment phase. Measuring residual fat is difficult and some patients have unrealistic expectations because large breast volume right after surgery. It is still uncertain how much impact factors such as spin, anesthesia and amount of fat injected have on the result. The method must be reserved for those who only want a moderate increase in breast volume and have fat in places where the need for correction exists.
Conclusion: Providing patients with the right indications, this method is a good alternative to breast augmentation. Before definitive conclusions can be reached, a longer follow-up time and more comparative studies are needed.
Read more at https://www.brataas.no/hostmotet/Abstrakt-1-35.pdf (abstract no. 19)
