Healing after fat graft for crater deformity

[SB87]

Hi, I recently had a fat graft to fix craters left from my initial surgery/injections to get rid of scar tissue. My surgeon told me everything was flat after the operation. It has been around 3 weeks and the contour of my chest is not great (more hill than crater I guess).  So my questions are:

- how long in General should i expect swelling to hang around?
- is there generally scar tissue from this kind of procedure ?
- I can feel the fat that has been injected is hard. How long should I expect it to take to soften up?
- how long should I wait to judge the outcome of this type of procedure?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Litlriki]

Overcorrection with fat grafting is required, since only a portion of the graft will survive.  Traditionally, we were pretty happy with 30 - 40 % graft take, and that may be a reasonable assessment in many cases, but newer techniques aim for a higher take, at least 60 to 70%.  So between overcorrection and swelling, it's good that it looks overcorrected. You need to allow quite a long time for the final assessment, and I wouldn't consider doing anything more for at least six months to see if the treatment was effective. In the meantime, it may look swollen and you'll feel hardness in the chest.  Most of the hardness should dissipate before you can consider the result final. 

Rick Silverman