KM Surgical’s Dr Ken MacDonald draws back the curtain on fat transfer, a life-changing cosmetic surgical process. Cityscape finds out more.

So what is fat transfer? We use a person’s own fat to improve the appearance of parts of the body that may have lost tissue volume due to aging, trauma, surgery, birth defects or other causes.

Where does the fat come from? Usually the thighs or abdomen.

And what kind of places do you usually transfer it to? It depends on the patient and their needs, but often the backs of hands, face, breasts, buttocks or hips.

Does it hurt? It’s not too bad. Before the procedure, we inject an anaesthetic to the area to minimise bruising and discomfort, and there’s also an option for sedation. We use a very narrow surgical instrument called a cannula to remove the fat using a liposuction technique.

Then what happens to the fat? The fat is then washed and filtered with gravitational settling before being returned to the body using another small cannula.

How long does the surgery take? Four to five hours.

What’s the recovery time? We suggest a week to ten days. Some clients do this on Thursday or Friday and are back to work on Monday if they are doing desk work.

Is it a one-off or does the surgery need to be repeated? It is a long-lasting treatment. However, some of the fat will lose its volume over time, so your surgeon may inject more than is needed to start with. Over a few weeks the amount of transferred fat will decrease a bit, and sometimes another transfer will be needed to maintain the desired results.

Do you need a GP referral for this surgery? You can come directly to KM Surgical for a consultation.

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