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Histological Evaluation of the Skin After Fat Grafting: A Blinded, Randomized, Controlled Clinical Study
Juan P B R Maricevich1, Marcel F M B Lima1, Ana Carolina Maricevich
1Department of Plastic Surgery, Hospital das Clínicas - UFPE, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.
Background:
Autologous fat graft is often employed to treat body contour defects. There is currently increased interest in the regenerative properties of fat grafting.
Objectives:
The authors evaluated the histological changes of fat grafting in a blinded randomized controlled trial of staged fat grafting-abdominoplasty.
Methods:
Ten women between 24 and 55 years of age with a body mass index <30 kg/m2 and previous cesarean scar were submitted to fat grafting followed by staged abdominoplasty. The C-section scar served as a landmark for standardization of fat grafting site and control. One side of the abdomen was fat grafted and the other was left intact (control). At the time of abdominoplasty, 4 months later, a full-thickness skin sample from each hemi abdomen (fat-grafted area and control) was collected and sent to histological analysis.
Results:
All of the fat-grafted samples showed extracellular lipids and signs of fat graft viability, whereas no such changes occurred in the control group. There were no statistically significant differences in fat-grafted vs control samples regarding skin inflammatory infiltrate (P = 0.582), dermis thickness (P = 0.973), vascular density (P = 0.326), and amount of elastic fibers (P = 1).
Conclusions:
The histological evaluation of women's abdominoplasty surgical site skin after 4 months of fat grafting showed signs of fat graft in 100% of the grafted sides but no change in skin inflammatory infiltrate, dermis thickness, vascularity density, or elastic fiber quantity.
