Histological Evaluation of the Skin After Fat Grafting: A Blinded, Randomized, Controlled Clinical Study.

Several human studies show positive signals, while research methods and sample sizes continue to develop.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Autologous fat graft is often employed to treat body contour defects. There is currently increased interest in the regenerative properties of fat grafting. The authors evaluated the histological changes of fat grafting in a blinded randomized controlled trial of staged fat grafting-abdominoplasty. 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. 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). 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 in

Evidence level

Several human studies show positive signals, while research methods and sample sizes continue to develop.

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