Is there really an advantage to using platelet rich plasma with fat injections? We don’t really know but since it uses your own tissues, it should do no harm, although it adds cost to any procedure. We know that platelet rich plasma, also known as PRP, turns out to have many beneficial effects and it may improve the results of fat injections, also called fat transfers or transplants.
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The Science Behind These Injections |
| Fat has stem cells and these are cells that are able to grow into different kinds of tissues. This includes collagen and other body structural tissues.
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| Platelet rich plasma is rich in growth factors and may increase the survival of injected fat – mostly in small amounts.
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| Combining the stem cells in fat transplants with the growth factors in PRP will improve the results of transplanted fat. |
How Does This Procedure Work?
- The area of the body receiving the injection is marked off.
- The area harvesting the fat is also marked.
- Both areas are numbed.
- Ten ccs of your own blood is removed from a vein, just as though it were a routine blood test.
- The blood is put in a centrifuge which separates the plasma from the blood cells.
- After the fat is harvested, it is washed, put in syringes and emulsified – moving it back and forth through a small opening to break up the fat.
- This allows fat to be injected with a small needle.
- The platelet-rich plasma is mixed with the fat.
- Once both areas are numb, the fat and the PRP are carefully injected into the tissues.
- Results vary because fat is living tissue and has to survive when transplanted. But successful grafts appear to have long-lived and even permanent results.