Fat transfer or implants?
answered by Dr. Rohit Chug, MD, Jonesboro.
Fat transfer adds breast volume using your own fat, taken by liposuction, while an implant is a manufactured object, so fat transfer gives a softer, more modest change with nothing foreign placed.
It is limited by how much fat can be harvested and how much the tissue accepts in one session, and it does not lift. At our clinic in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Dr. Rohit Chug, MD, a cosmetic physician, performs most of our fat-transfer work. Dr. Vaibhav Desai, MD, a physician member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery, performs the rest and oversees every plan. The procedure is described on the fat transfer page.
Here’s exactly what happens at a first visit — and you can come and see the place before you book anything.
Living tissue, or a manufactured object.
An implant has a shape you choose, it behaves predictably, and at some point it may need attention. Your own fat is the opposite on every count: it is living tissue, some of it does not survive the move, and what remains behaves like the rest of you.
Fat transfer offers a softer, more modest change with nothing foreign placed, and it costs you a second treated area, because the fat has to come from somewhere.
Liposuction, then placement.
Fat is harvested by liposuction from an area where you have it to spare, usually the abdomen, the flanks or the thighs. It is purified so that what is placed is fat rather than fluid, and then placed in layers where volume is wanted. The donor area is contoured in the same visit, so most people are changing two things at once.
Volume, not position.
Fat transfer adds volume. It is not a substitute for a breast lift. If what is bothering you is position rather than volume, say so at the consultation, and the answer about whether this is the right procedure is an honest one.
How much can be added is limited by how much fat there is to take and how much the tissue accepts in one session. If there is not enough to harvest, we will say so.
Some of it stays. Not all of it.
Transferred fat needs a blood supply to survive, and a proportion is reabsorbed. What remains after the first few months is generally what you keep, and it then responds to weight gain and loss like the rest of you. The result is judged over three to six months. Individual results vary.
Fat placed in the breast can show on future imaging, so tell whoever performs your mammograms that you have had fat transfer, and continue your normal screening.
Three places, and no others.
At Lux Lipo, fat transfer is offered for the breast and for hip dips, and there is a separate procedure for the vulva. Those are the only transfer sites we treat. The fat transfer page answers the questions people ask about the rest.
What to ask any provider, including us.
Ask any clinic offering fat transfer how many it performs in a month, where it would take the fat from in your case, how much it expects to survive and what it does if less does. Ask to see before and after photographs at more than one time point, not just early ones, because photographs taken at a few weeks show a swollen result rather than a settled one. And ask who handles the follow-up.
Planned and reviewed in Jonesboro.
People come to our clinic in Jonesboro from across Northeast Arkansas, about 30 minutes from Paragould and about an hour and 10 minutes from Kennett. The donor area follows the liposuction recovery, with a compression garment and a driver home, so plan the review visits in when you book.
More on the fat transfer page, and on the liposuction that comes first.
Cost is quoted in writing at your consultation.
Cost depends on the treatment plan you and your physician settle on, so we quote it at your consultation rather than guessing here. We offer financing.
We see patients from Jonesboro, Paragould and across Northeast Arkansas, and some travel from the Missouri Bootheel.
Asked at the desk, answered here.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Vaibhav Desai, MD. If yours is not here, call (870) 230-0844 and ask — nobody will try to book you for asking a question.
Is fat transfer to the breast better than implants?
It is different rather than better. It uses your own tissue for a softer, more modest change, with nothing foreign placed. It is limited in volume and does not lift.
Where can I get breast fat transfer in Arkansas?
At our clinic in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where Dr. Rohit Chug, MD, a cosmetic physician, performs most of our fat-transfer work.
How much volume can fat transfer add?
It depends on how much fat can be harvested and how much the tissue accepts in one session. That is assessed at your consultation.
Does all the fat survive?
No. A proportion is reabsorbed. What remains after the first few months is generally what you keep.
Will it affect mammograms?
It can show on imaging, so tell whoever performs your mammograms, and continue your normal screening.
Where does the fat come from?
From an area where you have it to spare, usually the abdomen, flanks or thighs, removed by liposuction in the same visit.
Come in.
Or book ahead.
A consultation is a conversation, not a commitment. We'll tell you honestly what's realistic for you.
Lux Lipo · 3800B S Caraway Rd, Suite 8, Jonesboro, AR 72401