Plastic surgeons have been successfully transplanting fat into the face for many years. Body fat from other areas is suctioned out and injected into the area you want to fill.
In the face, we found that the majority of the fat transplanted disappeared over several months, although a small portion of it probably stays permanently.
If it works in the face, why not do it in the breast?
Fat has been tried as a natural breast implant material. We found, however, that in the breast a special problem occurred.
This fat formed little calcium deposits called
"calcifications"
that looked exactly like breast cancer on mammograms!
Transplanting fat into the breast can make it impossible to follow your breast for breast cancer with mammograms. It is likely that the mammographer will suspect that you have a cancer and you could end up having many biopsy surgeries that would not have been necessary otherwise.
I am often asked if someone could just follow their breasts with MRI's or Cat Scans instead. These tests detect tumors. The advantage of a mammogram is that the very tiny calcifications can be seen long before they become actual tumors. This early detection can be lifesaving.
Given the fact that approximately one out of every eight women will get breast cancer, I think that it is a very very bad idea to make a mammogram impossible to read because of calcifications from fat.
While certainly not the "perfect" solution, in my opinion breast implants remain the least reactive and safest way to accomplish breast enlargement today.
