This is repeated four or five times on each side of each lip. But Clavin and a handful of other plastic surgeons are now claiming permanent success by using the patient's own fat rather than collagen. Until recently, this technique was also considered temporary. It's the patient's own tissue, so depending on the technique, you can usually get 50 percent of the fat to stay permanently. But it's absolutely technique-dependent.
Fatty tissue is fragile and tends to die off when moved from one place in the body to another.
But as far back as 1893, doctors discovered that minute, thin parcels of fat were likelier to survive such a move because it was easier for them to reconnect to blood vessels in their new location. Lipostructure takes advantage of this fact. Despite the apparent success of fat injections, Seattle plastic surgeon Dr. Phillip Haeck is unimpressed. I think it's hideous. Haeck knows he's conservative compared to most of his colleagues.