Fat graft for facial contouring in patients with post-surgical and post- traumatic defects: A case series study

Background and objective: Facial deformities provide a considerable challenge for both the patient and the facial reconstructive surgeon. They can be caused by congenital, traumatic, and oncological ablative surgery. The aim of the study is to evaluate the reliability of autologous fat grafting in residual facial deformities. Methods: This is a case series study of 10 patients with secondary facial defects induced by trauma, parotidectomy and orthognathic surgery. The patients were more than18 yeas old age and of both sexes. The study was conducted at Sulaimani Teaching Hospital from May to December 2021. The defects were grafted with autologous fat grafts harvested from the abdomen and suprapubic region using two techniques, en-bloc and structural fat grafting (minimum 10 cc to maximum 35 cc). Result: Mean graft volume (20.8 cc) Revision was required for 10% of patients. Mean satisfaction score (8.3). Patient’s satisfaction score increased with graft volume p-value <0.01. No major complications were reported. Conclusion: Autologous fat graft is a reliable and cost-effective method for correcting mild to moderate facial soft tissue and hard tissue asymmetry, resulting in a significant improvement in the patients' facial esthetics and psychology.