Facial Fat Transfer in Boston

Restore lost volume and create lasting, youthful-looking contours with a facial fat transfer in Boston. Dr. Ashley Lonergan takes a gentle, conservative approach to fat transfers, ensuring your features remain authentic to you.

A Natural Approach to Volume Loss

Facial fat transfers in Boston use tissue your body already recognizes as its own, softening hollows in the cheeks, temples, or under-eye area without the use of synthetic filler. At the Boston Center for Plastic Surgery, Dr. Ashley Lonergan performs facial fat grafting to restore a fuller, more youthful contour that blends seamlessly with your existing features.

What Is a Facial Fat Transfer?

A facial fat transfer, also called facial fat grafting, is a minimally invasive procedure that harvests fat from another area of your body, purifies it, and then reinjects it into areas of the face that have lost volume over time. The fat cells are sourced from other areas of your body, typically the abdomen, hips, or thighs, via liposuction, resulting in a subtle body contouring effect. Because the fat comes from your own tissue, results tend to blend more naturally than dermal fillers can typically achieve. While every patient has their own motivations for pursuing surgery, many come to Dr. Lonergan in Boston for the following benefits:

Long-lasting volume restoration using your own tissue
A more natural look, feel, and movement compared to synthetic filler
Improved contour in the cheeks, temples, or under-eyes

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Why Choose Dr. Ashley Lonergan?

A facial fat transfer requires precise judgment about how much volume to add to each area of the face, since overfilled results are far harder to correct than underfilled ones that can be built upon later. Dr. Lonergan takes a conservative approach to facial fat grafting, starting with modest correction and slowly layering additional injections. She spent a year learning advanced facial rejuvenation procedures during her fellowship training at The Williams Center, shaping how she reads volume loss across your entire face rather than treating one area in isolation. She builds customized treatment plans for every patient, building on the medical expertise and clinical excellence honed during her medical education at Tufts University and her surgical residency at the University of California, Irvine.

What to Expect From Your Facial Fat Grafting in Boston

Harvesting Your Own Fat

To begin your surgery, Dr. Lonergan will use liposuction to collect fat from your chosen donor area, using small incisions to access your tissue. She’ll remove slightly more fat volume than needed for your transfer to ensure balanced results regardless of fat reabsorption.

Purifying and Preparing the Tissue for Injection

Once harvested, your tissue will be processed and purified to isolate the healthiest cells before reinjection. This preparation step is essential to your facial fat grafting results, as well-processed fat is far more likely to integrate successfully into its new location on the face.

A Layered Injection Technique

Dr. Lonergan will then reinject your purified fat cells into your face in small, precise layers, moving area by area to craft a balanced result. By working in sections rather than a single large volume, she can achieve better blood supply, more natural-looking results, and more predictable survival of the transferred cells.

Designed for Your Comfort

Dr. Lonergan typically performed facial fat grafting in conjunction with other facial procedures such as facelift or lower blepharoplasty, though it can be done in isolation for select patients. During your initial consultation, she’ll walk you through your anesthesia options to determine the best approach for your medical needs, comfort, and treatment plan.

Patient-First Recovery

Recovery from a facial fat transfer in Boston typically involves swelling at both the injection sites and the donor area for the first one to two weeks. Some bruising is common during early recovery and should fade steadily as healing progresses. Depending on your needs, Dr. Lonergan may provide you with compression wraps for your face and donor area to support your tissues as they heal. Most Boston patients resume normal routines, including social gatherings, light movement, and desk work, within one week. You’ll need to avoid strenuous activities for at least four weeks to give your body adequate time to recover.

Your Post-Op Process

After your procedure, Dr. Lonergan will share a recovery plan built around your specific needs. This plan will typically cover the following:

Donor and injection site care and cleaning instructions
Swelling and pain management strategies
Guidance on gentle facial movement during early healing
Activity limitations
Sleep position restrictions
Hygiene recommendations
Sun protection and exposure protocols
Side effects to monitor

You’ll return to Dr. Lonergan’s Boston office regularly over the coming weeks for short follow-up appointments. There, she’ll assess your healing progress, ensure your tissues have settled properly and fat reabsorption hasn’t affected your results, and approve you to resume high-impact activities.

Revealing a More Confident You

The final results of your facial fat grafting in Boston will continue to settle over the following months as swelling resolves and the transferred fat establishes its blood supply. Over time, you'll notice fuller, more youthful-looking contours taking shape, reharmonizing your face without compromising your unique expression and identity.

Facial Fat Transfer Frequently Asked Questions

Will all of the transferred fat survive permanently?

Not all of the injected fat survives long term, and Dr. Lonergan accounts for some natural reabsorption when planning your treatment. The fat that does survive is generally considered a permanent addition to your facial volume.

Where does the donor fat typically come from?

Fat is most commonly harvested from the abdomen, hips, or thighs, depending on where you have adequate donor tissue available. Dr. Lonergan will discuss the best donor site for your specific case during your private consultation.

Can facial fat transfer be combined with a facelift?

Yes. Many patients combine facial fat grafting with a facelift or eyelid surgery to address both volume loss and skin laxity in the same procedure. During your consultation, Dr. Lonergan will discuss whether combining treatments suits your goals and medical needs.

How does facial fat transfer compare to dermal fillers?

Facial fat transfer uses your own tissue and offers long-lasting results, while dermal fillers are temporary and require repeat treatments to maintain. Dr. Lonergan can help you decide which option better fits your goals and timeline.