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Replacing Facial Volume…
Which is Better: Dermal Fillers or Fat Grafting?
Replacing Facial Volume: Should you or shouldn’t you?
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Aging is a natural process that is mostly irreversible. Everyone undergoes this process as early as their early 30s. In the broader sense, ageing slows down your bodily functions and makes significant visible changes to the skin, often affecting detrimentally your sense of beauty.
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As no two people are identical, the rate of ageing differs from person to person, compounded by factors such as ethnicity, lifestyle, diet, stress, exposure to weather conditions and more besides.
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Certain studies have shown that when an average person reaches their mid-thirties, they lose about 10% of the fat in their faces and they continue to lose about 5-10% of the facial volume every year.
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The loss of facial fat pad and collagen cause the skin and residual fat to sag, leading to the loss of structure and firmness, while making the lower face look heavy in appearance. Wrinkles and droop are common, inevitable results.
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For aesthetic reasons, replacing facial volume is a solution to this problem. Two of the most common anti-ageing treatments to restore facial fat to the face are (1) dermal filler treatments and (2) facial fat grafting. But how do you know which is suitable for you?
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Replacing Facial Volume:
What is facial fat grafting?
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Also sometimes known as fat injections or autologous fat transfer, it is a surgical procedure that requires the surgeon to harvest excess fat from another part of the body such as your arms, tummy or thighs and reintroduce to areas of the face that are lacking in volume through a series of injections.
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Facial fat grafting is a safe treatment because it involves extracting fat by liposuction, processing the fat, and then re-injecting the purified fat into the face.
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Facial fat grafting is more commonly used for patients who experience facial lipoatrophy and require large amount of volume replacement to areas such as cheeks, temples, lips and lower face.
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Replacing Facial Volume:
What are dermal fillers? Are they natural?
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On the other hand, dermal fillers are substances made in laboratories. There are two main types of dermal fillers – hyaluronic acid (HA) or collagen stimulators. Both are bio-compatible substances that do not have adverse effects when injected into the skin.
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HA dermal fillers are made of sugar molecules that are naturally present in the body to keep the skin plump and firm, a characteristic often associated with younger people. However, they contain bio-compatible substances – also known as hyaluronic acid (HA).
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For that reason, HA dermal fillers are considered safe and biodegradable. It is considered a non-surgical treatment and can be injected directly into the face without the need to harvest anything from the body.
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On the other hand, collagen stimulators are another type of dermal fillers that last significantly longer than their HA counterparts. These are biodegradable chemical compounds that are made in the laboratories that are capable of stimulating the body to produce its own natural collagen. Common collagen stimulators used in Singapore are Ellanse, Radiesse and Sculptra.
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As both HA fillers and collagen stimulators are compatible with the human body, there is extremely low risks of developing any adverse side effects to the treatment. It is common to develop some swelling and bruising but they should subside in a few days with proper management.
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Although rare, blindness or skin necrosis may occur if the treatment is performed by an inexperienced doctor.
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Ideal candidates for Replacing Facial Volume via facial fat grafting
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Facial fat grafting is considered a minor surgery because it involves a liposuction procedure to extract the excess fat from other parts of the body.
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So, who are suitable candidates for Replacing Facial Volume using facial fat grafting? They should fulfill at least one of the following:
- Severe loss of facial volume
- Looking for overall facial rejuvenation
- Prefer longer lasting results (10 years and beyond)
- Prefer to use compound from own body than to use a compound manufactured in a laboratory
- Does not mind the long downtime associated with minor surgeries
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Ideal candidates for Replacing Facial Volume via dermal filler treatment
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On the other hand, dermal Replacing Facial Volume using filler treatments are almost fuss-free and convenient. There is no need to harvest cells from your body.
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Ideal candidates for dermal filler treatment should fulfill at least one of the following:
- Prefer to opt for a quick fix for facial augmentation and rejuvenation
- Prefer treatment with little or no downtime
- Do not have enough excess fat to harvest for fat grafting
- Want to sculpt delicate and small areas of the face such as under the eyes, nose or chin
- Want to have a more predictable outcome as compared to fat grafting
- Prefer treatments with lower risks because HA dermal filler treatments are reversible, and results are temporary
- Prefer treatment that has a more predictable outcome
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How different are the results for both treatments?
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Immediate results can be seen for both facial fat grafting and dermal filler treatments.
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In some cases, people who undergo facial fat grafting may have to undergo 2-3 sessions to achieve the desired results. This is because some transplanted fat may die and be resorbed by the body after a few months.
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Your doctor may wait for the swelling to subside and transplanted fat settle before opting to undergo a touch-up treatment to achieve the final result. This means that the entire process for facial fat grafting may take months before you see the final result, taking into account the long downtime with each procedure.
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One of the benefits of dermal fillers is that their rheological properties are different. This allows doctors to sculpt and augment the face with precision, giving remarkable results with very little downtime.
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So, how do I know which is more suitable?
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Both treatments are excellent choices for Replacing Facial Volume and overall facial rejuvenation and volume replacement.
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Facial fat grafting is best suited for people who are looking for a large volume replacement of the face and are comfortable with the long downtime associated with the treatment.
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Dermal filler treatment is more suitable for people who are seeking minor augmentation of delicate facial features such as nose, undereyes, lips and nasolabial folds.
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When considering your options, always seek a consultation with a certified, experienced doctor. A skilled doctor will be able to discuss the pros and cons of both treatments for replacing facial volume in order to help you decide the most appropriate treatment to suit your needs.
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Article by Radium Esthetics, Singapore
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