Fat Grafting Evolution Photo Gallery

The "Fat Grafting Evolution Gallery" is intended to show a prospective patient the changes that occur over time following a session of fat transfer (or fat grafting). The initial 1 to 2 weeks after the procedure exhibits swelling that gradually subsides and can actually look unimpressive by about the 3rd month postoperatively. This temporary dip in result only becomes evident in about 20 to 30% of individuals. The reason for this is that the swelling has disappeared but the result actually starts to shape and improve from 6 months until about 2 years following the procedure, as the blood supply takes hold and transforms the result over time. Looking at these photos you will see that in about 70% of the time, the individual does not markedly dip in a result at the 3rd month but in almost every case continues to improve over the 2-year period. This is why Dr. Lam does not routinely perform a touch-up fat transfer until after 1 year, which he now performs without a charge for those who require it and which is less than 5% of the time. This evolution series definitively proves that fat grafting done BY DR. LAM is both permanent and natural unlike the criticisms leveled by unskilled surgeons with their fat grafting techniques. A recent quantitative study using 3-D photography confirmed that at 3 months following fat transfer there can be a slight or very noticeable decrease in volume, which then steadily increases from 6 months to 18 months. This landmark study proves without a doubt that fat grafting is a live graft that improves over the first 2 years in a quantitative, measurable way. Dr. Lam has lectured and published on how fat transfer follows the same trajectory as a hair transplant graft, i.e., the hair graft achieves full blood supply by the 6th month and continues to grow until about 18 months following the procedure. Both fat grafts and hair grafts are tiny "free" grafts (the grafts are not sewn in but placed into the surrounding tissue) so they act very similarly.