How much transferred fat actually survives in the body?
Roughly fifty to seventy per cent survives permanently and the rest is reabsorbed in the first three to six months, which is why we overfill deliberately.
The realistic figure: half to three quarters
Between roughly fifty and seventy per cent of transferred fat survives permanently, and the rest is reabsorbed over the first three to six months. That range is not a failure of technique, it is the biology of moving living tissue that has to grow a new blood supply where it lands. This is why we deliberately overfill at the operation, why the result looks best on day two and worst at week six, and why nothing is judged before month six.
What the surgeon controls
Three technical choices move the number. Harvesting at low negative pressure through a wide cannula damages fewer fat cells than aggressive suction. Processing by decanting or gentle centrifugation removes blood and oil without crushing the graft. And placing it in many fine passes rather than a few large boluses keeps every droplet within a fraction of a millimetre of a blood vessel. A large lump of injected fat has a centre that nothing can reach, and that centre dies.
What you control
Do not diet in the three months after surgery. Grafted fat cells behave like every other fat cell you own, and losing weight while they are trying to establish reduces the volume you paid for, the single most common patient-side reason for a disappointing result. Stop smoking, because nicotine constricts exactly the small vessels the graft depends on. Avoid pressure on the treated area, which for a facial graft means sleeping position and for a buttock means not sitting flat for two weeks.
Why a second session is planned, not a failure
We quote fat transfer as a single session, because we cannot honestly promise a final volume from one. In areas where the survival rate is lowest and the demand for volume is highest, a top-up at month six is normal and we say so before you book rather than after. If a clinic guarantees you a precise final volume from one session of fat grafting, it is guaranteeing something the biology does not allow.
The Ones People Actually Ask.
When is the final result of a fat transfer visible?
At month six. Swelling masks the early weeks, reabsorption runs through months one to three, and what remains at six months is essentially what you keep. Photographs taken at the same distance and lighting at week one, month three and month six make that curve visible rather than confusing.
Does the surviving fat last for life?
Yes, in the sense that the cells that establish a blood supply become permanent residents of the new area. They still behave like fat, so they grow if you gain weight and shrink if you lose it, which is why we ask patients to be at a stable weight before booking.
More On Aesthetic.
Fat is your own tissue and lasts for life, but only 60-70% survives, which is exactly why fillers still have a place.
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What Stands Behind The Plan.
