MIAMI, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire)— Fat grafting is a surgical procedure that transfers fat from one area of the body to another. Now, doctors are using a new technique to repair a defect in one woman’s leg.
A pediatric nurse for eight years now, Kali Galvan thought she had seen it all!
“I noticed about three years ago, about 2017, that I was having like a fatty growth in my leg,” Galvan recalled.
Luckily, a biopsy came back benign, but about a week later there was a painful infection.
“My leg was very swollen, very red, extremely tender,” Shared Galvan.
Plastic surgeon Joshua Lampert knew he had to remove the infection and let the wound heal.
“The problem is when a wound heals like that, it created a really big crater in her leg,” explained Joshua Lampert, MD, a board- certified plastic surgeon at LampertMD.com.
That’s when Dr. Lampert offered her fat grafting to fill the hole in her leg.
“Fat grafting is a technique where you harvest fat from somewhere on the body where you don’t want it, and then you place it somewhere where you do,” illustrated Dr. Lampert.
While harvesting fat is not new, the technology Dr. Lampert uses is.
“We use a special low-pressure liposuction system, because the low-pressure avoids fat cell rupture,” elaborated Dr. Lampert.
By keeping more fat cells alive fewer procedures are needed. Kali had fat taken from three areas.
“The first one we did my abdominal area, the second one we did my back, and the third one we did kinda like my love handles,” recalled Galvan.
“Once that is harvested and separated, then we are able to inject it deep to the scar and try to push that scar up,” explained Dr. Lampert.
The entire process took six months. But now Kali’s leg is healed. She went on vacation last year and wore shorts with confidence!
“I just felt like I was on top of the world,” Galvan shared.
From a hole in her leg to feeling whole again.
Dr. Lampert says fat grafting is done under general anesthesia and can be used for breast reconstruction after a mastectomy or for adding more volume to the face after a tumor resection, basically to fill any soft tissue defect. Some fat grafting procedures are covered under insurance. Otherwise the cost can be anywhere from $20,000 and up depending on the procedure and amount of liposuction.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Executive Producer; Janna Ross, Field Producer; Judy Reich, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
TOPIC: FAT GRAFTING FILLS THE VOID
REPORT: MB #4827
MASTECTOMY: A mastectomy is surgery to remove all breast tissue from a breast to treat or prevent breast cancer. For those with early-stage breast cancer, a mastectomy may be one treatment option. Breast-conserving surgery, in which only the tumor is removed from the breast, may be another option. A mastectomy may be a treatment option for many types of breast cancer, including ductal carcinoma in situ or noninvasive breast cancer, stage I and II breast cancer, stage III breast cancer after chemotherapy, inflammatory breast cancer after chemotherapy, Paget’s disease of the breast and locally recurrent breast cancer.
(Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/mastectomy/about/pac-20394670)
BREAST CANCER RECONSTRUCTION: Breast reconstruction takes place during or soon after a mastectomy, and in some cases, a lumpectomy. Breast reconstruction also can be done months or even years after a mastectomy or lumpectomy. There are two types of techniques used for reconstruction. One is having a breast implant which is when a plastic surgeon creates a breast shape using an artificial implant. The second is using natural tissue flaps which is when you use a flap of tissue from another place on your body. There are factors that can affect the timing of breast reconstruction surgery. One factor is whether a woman will need radiation therapy. Radiation therapy can sometimes cause wound healing problems or infections in reconstructed breasts, so some women may prefer to delay reconstruction until after radiation therapy is completed. Another factor is the type of breast cancer. Women with inflammatory breast cancer usually require more extensive skin removal. This can make immediate reconstruction more challenging, so it may be recommended that reconstruction be delayed until after completion of therapy.
(Sources: https://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/reconstruction, https://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/BreastReconstruction.html, https://www.cancer.gov/types/breast/reconstruction-fact-sheet)
FAT GRAFTING BREAST RECONSTRUCTION: Fat grafting involves harvesting fat from a part of the patient’s body and then injecting it in the chest to recreate the breasts. Most plastic surgeons use fat grafting as a secondary type of reconstruction procedure, to smooth imperfections from implants but some doctors have mastered the process of using fat grafts for complete breast reconstruction. Fat tissue is harvested from your body where it is more abundant, such as your thighs, buttocks, and belly by liposuction. After the fat cells are removed, they are purified and processed to prepare them to be injected. Once the fat cells are treated, they are then injected in the breast area. Fat grafts are ideal for patients who have undergone lumpectomies or a partial mastectomy. One of the procedure’s attractions is that it is a safe, minimally invasive procedure, usually done in an outpatient setting.
(Source: https://www.miamiherald.com/living/health-fitness/article246095030.html)
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:
JOANNA NARVAEZ
305-878-1920
Instagram: @Joshua_Lampert
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com
