Forehead Fat Grafting Side Effects: Is There a Way to Remove Excess Fat?

Hello, this is Dr. Jo Hyun-woo of Lip Plastic Surgery.

Today I’d like to talk about removal after forehead fat grafting.

Forehead fat grafting is a procedure in which your own fat is harvested and injected into a sunken or wrinkled forehead. It is a surgery that restores volume to the face and creates a more youthful appearance.

However, after forehead fat grafting, many people want the grafted fat removed if it turned out too much, became bumpy, or one side became too prominent and asymmetrical.

Actually, I did not specifically set out to remove forehead fat grafting.

One patient came to me saying they had visited several places but could not solve the problem and asked me to remove the forehead fat grafting. After liposuction, they were satisfied with the result and posted a review on an online community. After that, patients began coming through referrals from time to time, and that is how I started performing surgery to remove forehead fat grafting.

Forehead fat grafting removal surgery is performed by making a needle-sized opening near the eyebrow and suctioning the fat out.

It takes about 30 minutes, and I will show you actual photos of fat removed from patients’ foreheads.

As you can see, quite a large amount of fat can be removed from the forehead.

Of course, a solution called tumescent solution is mixed in, but depending on the case, you can see anywhere from a minimum of 5 cc to as much as 30 cc being removed.

Let me show you a patient case.

This patient had forehead fat grafting 10 years ago and wanted it removed because it was too prominent and bumpy.

A total of 28 cc of fat was removed, and after surgery you can see that the overall volume decreased and the bumpy areas improved.

Next, this patient wanted forehead fat removal because, especially from the side, it looked too prominent.

A total of 27 cc of fat was removed, and after surgery the patient was also satisfied with the natural forehead line.

This patient had undergone forehead fat grafting twice 20 years ago and wanted forehead fat removal because the center of the forehead looked especially bumpy.

A total of 21 cc of fat was removed, and after surgery the overall forehead line became smoother.

Finally, this patient had forehead fat grafting two weeks ago.

The fat was not grafted evenly and was excessively placed only between the eyebrows, making it hard for them to open their eyes.

In particular, you can see that only the lower area looked prominently raised from the side.

A total of 28 cc of fat was removed, and after surgery you can see that it became much flatter.

Removal of forehead fat grafting is not something where you can simply take out as much as you want.

If the fat was grafted a long time ago, it is not soft fat but hardened tissue, so it does not come out easily. In that case, the borders may become more visible and the clumped areas may stand out even more.

Also, because the forehead has a dense distribution of blood vessels, there is a possibility of bleeding if vessels are disturbed, so if too much is removed, there may be a lot of bleeding. You can think of the surgery as being performed up to the point just before bleeding occurs.

Since the forehead is an area where many nerves pass through, the grafted fat must be removed safely while protecting the normal tissue and nerves.

So far, I have talked about liposuction, the method used to remove forehead fat grafting.

Even if it is not 100% satisfying or 100% complete removal, if you are struggling with excessive forehead fat grafting, it may be worth considering removal at least once.

Thank you.