Fat Transfer to the Breast

Autologous fat transfer to the breast is a surgical procedure that uses your own fat to naturally increase breast size and improve shape. Unlike implants, this technique provides meaningful enlargement and reshaping without placing foreign bodies into your body. The result is soft, natural, and long-lasting enhancement.

How It Works

  1. Consultation – Your Dermatologist surgeon assesses your goals and suitability

  2. Preparation – Negative pressure domes or dressings are used to prepare the breasts, creating space and improving blood supply

  3. Anaesthesia – The procedure is performed under tumescent anaesthesia, avoiding the risks of general anaesthetic

  4. Harvesting – Fat is removed from another part of the body (often abdomen, thighs, or flanks) via liposuction

  5. Processing – The fat is carefully purified and prepared for transfer

  6. Injection – Fat is precisely injected into the breasts to create natural volume and shape

What to Expect

  • Procedure time – 3–5 hours depending on areas treated

  • Recovery – swelling and bruising resolve over 1–2 weeks; most patients resume normal activities within 1–2 weeks

  • Results – natural enlargement and shaping; breasts feel soft and look proportionate

  • Longevity – fat that establishes a blood supply becomes permanent; results change with weight gain/loss

  • Sessions – in some cases, more than one session may be needed for desired volume

Benefits of Tumescent Anaesthesia

  • Safer – avoids general anaesthetic risks

  • Less bleeding and bruising – tumescent solution shrinks blood vessels

  • Comfortable – procedure is well tolerated

  • Faster recovery – awake, mobile, and home the same day

What It Improves

  • Small breast size (desire for enlargement without implants)

  • Loss of breast volume after pregnancy or weight loss

  • Asymmetry between breasts

  • Desire for a softer, natural alternative to implants

Why Preparation Matters

For transferred fat to survive, it must quickly establish a new blood supply. To improve this, we often use negative pressure preparation before surgery:

  • External expansion domes or negative pressure dressings are applied to the breasts in the days/weeks before surgery

  • This temporarily stretches the tissue and increases blood flow

  • Creates space for the new fat and enhances the likelihood that the grafted fat will survive long-term

Preparation is a key step to success, and DermLab’s approach maximises fat survival and patient satisfaction.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Preparing the breasts with negative pressure expands the tissue and increases blood flow, helping transferred fat survive and thrive.

  • Most patients achieve a meaningful increase in size and improved shape. Final volume depends on available fat and graft survival.

  • Some patients require multiple sessions to reach their desired size. Proper preparation increases the chance of success with fewer sessions.

  • Transferred fat behaves like natural fat — weight loss may reduce breast size, while weight gain may increase it

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