If You Do Under-Eye Fat Repositioning and Fat Grafting Together, Does Recovery Take Longer?

Under-eye fat repositioning + under-eye fat grafting: Will swelling really get much worse?

Hello,

I’m Yoo Young-gi, the chief doctor of Roy Plastic Surgery.

Today, I’d like to introduce a case of a patient who underwent under-eye fat repositioning

while also having under-eye fat grafting performed at the same time.

People often think that if fat grafting is done together, swelling will be much worse.

Is that really always the case?

Let’s take a look by comparing the photos before surgery and on day 16 after surgery.

Preoperative evaluation The patient was a woman in her early 30s, and according to her, the fat under her eyes was not protruding because of aging

but had been naturally prominent since childhood.

She said she often heard things like, “You look tired”

and “Your dark circles are deep.”

After consultation, we found that the amount of fat under the right eye in particular (left side in the photo)

was significantly less than the other side,

so the under-eye area looked especially hollow and the groove was deep.

It seemed difficult to fill the deficient area with under-eye fat repositioning alone,

so we decided to perform fat grafting together to make up for the missing volume.

At first, this patient was also very worried that “if fat grafting is added, the swelling and bruising will be much worse.”

I’ll show you in detail what it was actually like from here.

Surgical process

Under-eye fat repositioning is basically a procedure that moves protruding fat to a hollow area.

If the patient has enough under-eye fat,

it can simply be spread out evenly to fill the area,

but this patient had too little fat to use under the right under-eye area.

• Preoperative estimate:

We thought, “At least 1 cc may need to be grafted,” but

when we actually brought out even the hidden fat and repositioned it,

the amount needed was much less than expected.

• Actual graft amount:

In the end, only 0.4 cc was enough to create a sufficiently smooth result.

0.4 cc may sound like a very small amount numerically,

but when you think about the under-eye space, it is not small at all.

If you imagine “putting only 0.4 cc of water under the eye,”

you can picture that it still fills the area quite a bit.

Before surgery vs. day 16 after surgery: swelling comparison

(1) Preoperative photos Left photo: looking straight ahead Right photo: with the eyes looking upward

Because of the anatomical structure of the eye, it is easier to see how much fat is under the eye when the gaze is directed upward.

• The right under-eye area (left side in the photo) had less fat than the other side, so it looked even more deeply hollow. • The left eye had relatively more fat, so it seemed that balance could be achieved to some extent with repositioning alone.

(2) Photos on day 16 after surgery

Left photo: looking straight ahead Right photo: with the eyes looking upward

• Swelling under both eyes:

The swelling was severe during the first 3 to 5 days,

but after more than 2 weeks, it had returned to a mostly natural appearance.

• Right under-eye area (fat grafting area):

The swelling was not as large as expected, and it settled into a shape that was almost similar to the left side.

• Difference in volume:

Previously, the hollowing was severe and the dark circles looked deep,

but now the area is much flatter and the under-eye area looks more refreshed.

(3) Before-and-after comparison

Left: before surgery Right: 16 days after surgery

In conclusion, adding fat grafting did not make the swelling feel much worse. The patient herself also said that “both sides seem to swell and go down at about the same rate.”

The truth behind “Does fat grafting make swelling last longer?”

Of course, when fat grafting is done together, the overall treatment area does become slightly wider. That’s because bruising and swelling can also occur at the harvest site (such as the thigh or abdomen).

However, since the amount placed under the eye is not large, and even though the tissue may be more sensitive than expected, there are not many cases where swelling becomes extremely severe.

• Harvest site care:

Even if small bruises occur depending on the anesthesia or suction method,

they usually improve after 1 to 2 weeks.

• Under-eye area:

If only 0.4 cc is precisely injected like in this case,

additional swelling does not increase significantly.

Therefore, the effect of fat grafting on swelling depends on how much is injected and how it is performed.

This patient had bruising until about the first week, but it was at a level that could be covered with makeup. :)

After more than 10 days, she continued to receive positive reactions from people around her.

“You look so much brighter—did you do something??”

“Why do you look so pretty now? Did you do something??”

She said she received compliments like these.

Apparently, people didn’t know exactly what she had done, but they said she looked better, haha.

To sum up, this case shows that

adding fat grafting while performing under-eye fat repositioning

does not necessarily make swelling extremely severe.

At first, the amount of fat under the right eye was so insufficient that we thought, “Shouldn’t at least 1 cc or more be grafted?”

but once we brought out and repositioned the hidden fat inside, only about 0.4 cc was enough. As a result, the swelling under both eyes settled naturally with almost no difference.

• Key points

• The key is the technique of grafting exactly “only what is needed” • If the harvest site and injection site are adjusted carefully,

the recovery period does not become unnecessarily long.

If you have severe under-eye hollowness and think repositioning alone may not be enough, consider fat grafting as well.

If you were worried because of swelling, I hope this case helps.

If only the necessary amount is grafted appropriately, you may find that recovery is faster than expected.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us anytime. Thank you.

If you’d like to read more about under-eye fat repositioning in general, please refer to the post below :)

https://blog.naver.com/youngkeeyoumd/223487712998

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Roy Plastic Surgery Clinic (Sinsa Station, Line 3) Main phone number: 02-516-5525

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Roy Plastic Surgery complies with the Medical Service Act. The photos in this post were taken under the same conditions, and are images taken with the patient’s prior consent. In addition, after cosmetic surgery and procedures, side effects such as bleeding, infection, and inflammation may occur depending on the individual, so caution is advised.