In Which Cases Is Under-Eye Fat Grafting Effective? To Prevent Excess and Side Effects

As people age, when the under-eye area becomes puffy and tear troughs develop, in most cases improvement can be achieved with fat repositioning surgery alone.

Depending on the degree of aging, fat is properly moved into the hollowed area through either an incision only on the inner conjunctiva or a lower blepharoplasty that removes skin.

Cases where under-eye fat repositioning alone is sufficient

Case in which only under-eye repositioning was performed without fat grafting

In the case above, the protruding fat was enough to completely fill the tear trough. In such cases, a satisfying result can be achieved with fat repositioning alone, without adding any other procedure.

Cases where under-eye fat repositioning alone is not sufficient: combined fat grafting cases

However, there are also cases where fat grafting is sometimes recommended at the same time as under-eye fat repositioning surgery. These are people whose under-eye fat, which acts as the 'material' for filling sunken areas, is insufficient, so repositioning alone cannot adequately improve the hollowing...

As in the case below, in situations like this, I believe that adding fat grafting is necessary to achieve satisfying results.

Appearance 2 months after one session of under-eye surgery + under-eye fat grafting

How are dark circles treated?

People whose under-eye area appears shadowed due to hollowing or whose dark circles are prominent because of pigmentation can also be effectively improved by combining fat repositioning surgery with fat grafting. In such cases, nano fat grafting, which breaks the fat particles down more finely than conventional fat grafting, can be helpful. This is because, unlike regular fat, nano fat has skin-rejuvenating effects from components similar to stem cells rather than a volumizing effect. The regenerative factors extracted from fat in this way are also called SVF (you can think of it as synonymous with nano fat).

The methods for extracting SVF vary by clinic, but at our Gangnam Station plastic surgery clinic, we extract stem-cell-related components using Tulip's Nano Fat Transfer kit.

Nano Fat Transfer

Still, if pigmentation is too severe, nano fat grafting alone may have limited treatment effect. For such patients, Eyeshape Plastic Surgery also performs BBL procedures using a Juul laser, only when necessary.

Under-eye surgery + nano fat grafting + BBL

The finishing touch in revision under-eye surgery: fat grafting

There are also cases where patients visit Eyeshape Plastic Surgery at Gangnam Station for revision surgery because the under-eye area has become loose and hollow again after having lower blepharoplasty at another clinic in the past. As in the case below, some patients had excessive fat removal previously, making it difficult to achieve the desired result with standard revision lower blepharoplasty alone. In such cases, adding fat grafting can lead to satisfying results.

A case in which excessive fat removal under the eyes was improved by combining fat grafting

What should be considered in under-eye fat grafting?

Fat grafting around the eyes is relatively difficult and requires detailed technique. Without enough experience, the under-eye area can become uneven, or the fat survival rate may drop, causing the area to hollow again quickly. Director Park Seong-hyeok of Eyeshape has extensive experience performing fat grafting procedures not only on various parts of the face but also on the upper and lower eyelids.

In addition, we use genuine nano fat grafting kits with smaller particles than conventional fat grafting to improve under-eye hollowness in a natural way. Please consult in detail with the director at Eyeshape Plastic Surgery near Gangnam Station and Sinnonhyeon Station, who has extensive experience in under-eye fat repositioning, lower blepharoplasty, and under-eye fat grafting.