[Real Patient Case] Under-Eye Fat Grafting

#MiddleAgedEyeSurgery #UnderEyeFatGrafting #UnderEye #LowerBlepharoplasty #TearTrough #GangnamUnderEyeFatGrafting #GangnamPlasticSurgery #GangnamMiddleAgedEyeSurgery #ParkSunHee #UBer #SeoSeungJo #ShimJungHwan #GangnamLowerBlepharoplasty

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Hello~

💎your beauty universe! This is UBer Plastic Surgery :)💎

Today, we will review an under-eye fat grafting case.

Pre-op Analysis

The patient is a 54-year-old female who underwent under-eye fat removal surgery 7 years ago.

She visited our clinic with concerns about a sunken and hollowed appearance.

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When dealing with under-eye concerns, patients typically choose from three main options: under-eye fat repositioning, lower blepharoplasty, or under-eye fat grafting.

Since each procedure has clear advantages and disadvantages, I believe accurately analyzing the patient's condition is the most important step.

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First, the patient has a small anterior cheekbone area under the eyes and sunken eye sockets.

The actual boundary of the orbital bone is the red line,

and the tear trough area is the green line located much further below. The cause of the hollowed look

is an overall lack of volume below the red line.

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Looking more closely,

it appears that dissection and fat repositioning in the tear trough area were not performed during the previous surgery.

When the depression at the green line (tear trough) is severe, if volume is not replenished here,

the bulging fat under the eyes may actually look worse even if it was reduced.

Therefore, a sufficient amount of volume replenishment is necessary

so that the elongated appearance from the under-eye to the anterior cheekbone can be shortened, creating a more youthful look,

and the hollowed appearance can be improved.

Thus, whether to perform under-eye fat grafting alone or combine it with lower blepharoplasty

is determined through consultation with the patient.

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Consultation and Surgical Process

While combining it with lower blepharoplasty could yield better results,

the skin under her eyes was not severely sagging, and the fat on the outer part of the under-eye was not severely bulging,

so I explained that it was not an essential requirement,

and we decided to proceed with fat grafting only for now.

The main target area is the green line (tear trough),

but volume also needs to be added to the anterior cheekbone area slightly below it,

and for the area between the red and green lines where fat was previously removed due to bulging,

injecting a small amount of fat often yields better results.

However, since the skin is thinner closer to the eyes, the fat can look lumpy,

so I believe controlling the fat particle size and amount is crucial.

After harvesting a small amount of fat from the abdomen or thighs, the under-eye area is divided into detailed sections,

and the fat particle size is adjusted to suit each specific location.

Because the patient's left side has a smaller bone structure and more severe hollowing, a larger amount is injected into the left side compared to the right.

During injection, only a small needle hole is made in the cheekbone area, and simple taping is applied to the fat injection sites.

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Post-op Progress

With fat grafting, there is no need to worry about scarring,

but swelling must be expected for a certain period.

Generally, a significant amount of swelling remains up to 1 week,

and it takes about 2 weeks for the major swelling to subside so the approximate shape can be seen.

After this point, there may be almost no change in shape in some cases,

but it takes another 1 to 2 weeks for the residual swelling to fully resolve.

In the progress photos taken on day 22 post-op, the volume has been adequately filled, eliminating the sunken appearance,

and the elongated lower eyelid now looks shorter, resulting in a more youthful eye shape.

The left-right asymmetry has been improved, and the dark circles have also gotten better.

Compared to the pre-op photos, there is an effect of the green line moving upwards,

and since lower blepharoplasty was not performed, there are no direct changes above the red line.

If aging progresses further in the future, I believe it would be ideal to perform lower blepharoplasty at that time

to pursue naturalness in the fine wrinkles under the eyes, slight bulging, and the area between the red and green lines.

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Pre-op ~ Day 22

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