Has anyone had micro fat grafting?

NotMyTime2Go...

Thanks so much for all this great information.  It is really neat to see how the protocol continues to be fine-tuned.  It's interesting how they feel that longer wear will help reduce cysts.  I also think the fact of a breast that has had radiation versus one that has not might come in to play too, at least in my case.  I am finding that since Dr. K drained the cyst, the L side is starting to soften...but I'm sure the fluid will build back up in the cyst and that is why he will drain it again in Jan.  

 The domes really aren't that bad, especially since you only wear them 10-12 hours a day.  It really is surprising how much you can learn to do while wearing them.  We have a wood stove and the other day, I hauled in some wood and started a fire with them on! 

PSF & Wisconsinrandi - I can only echo what you two have said.  Had my second and last fat grafting surgery last week and  got to see the results yesterday at post-op.  Unbelievable!  Dr. K did some more work on both folds as well as more fat grafting.  I love my results!  I never thought that I would have breasts that look and feel so natural ever again.  I was happy to donate my extra fat to the effort as well!  :-)

It's very easy to count my blessings as we all tend to do this time of year:  I'm cancer-free and I found Dr. Khouri.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ha! Ha! Ha! I read it just the way you meant it. No worries.  

I failed to mention in my earlier post that my ps has three other women waiting to enroll in the study as soon as he gets approval. That's so exciting! Also, I was just fitted for prosthetics today (my Christmas gift to myself) and they are so much more comfortable and attractive than those awful expanders. Just avoiding those things is a break thru in my humble opinion!

NotMyTime2Go,

What about foam prosthesis, like these (they don't weigh much at all):  

http://www.jodee.com/breastforms.jsp?cid=FO

http://www.jodee.com/pfstyle.jsp?cid=PF 

http://www.mastectomybreastforms.com/foam-breast-forms 

If you do a google shopping search on "foam breast forms", you do get mostly "normal" hits, but also quite a few, um, interesting sites, lol:

Google shopping - foam breast forms

Hope that helped

Hi Pandazankar,

These are the two sites I've found for him: EasyBreast.net and Back BayPlastic Surgery. From his sites, it looks like he does more augmentations than reconstructions, but I have no idea if that is really the case. 

I do know of one woman who had a consult with him for an augmentation, but he felt she was too thin (she later went to Dr. Khouri for her procedure, with really nice results). I heard him speak briefly at Dr. Khouri's "Fat Graft Course" back in Oct (that Randi has mentioned). I didn't hear the whole thing, so I could have missed him talking about reconstruction. 

One of the things I did hear was his lecture on patient selection and patient compliance. He seemed as selective in patients as many of us do in surgeons, lol!

If you do contact him, I'd be interested in hearing if he does do reconstruction as well.

(Sorry, I don't think I was very much help!!)

Alexandra

NotMyTime2Go:

RE BreastForms....I used these micro-bead breast forms from TLC....I liked them more than foam, since they are squishy and very light weight.  The other thing...when I started doing BRAVA, I didn't want to put too much compression on the breasts when not wearing BRAVA during the day, so I wore molded bra cups that wouldn't put pressure on the areas that were being expanded....you can still put some filler in the molded bra cups so that the cups don't collapse.  I had already bought a couple of mastectomy bras that were molded (since my insurance paid) and liked these since they seemed to be larger in circumferance and more rounded at the tip (worked for me since I had my nipples removed.   You really can fill the cups with just about anything...I also used some of the fluffy material that I got in my post-surgical bra set, at some point.

http://www.tlcdirect.org/products/sku-8139.html

I am new to the site.  I had chemo, a mastectomy, lymph nodes removed, and radiation.  I am considering having the Brava Bra and fat grafting with Dr. Khouri.  I would like to connect with others who have had Dr. Khouri do this reconstruction.  I know there are many pages on it, but just getting in now is overwhelming.  I would appreciate you sending me a private message so I could ask specific questions until I can figure it out better and follow the thread.  Thanks for any help you can provide.        

Hi poemlady,

I haven't had the fat grafting....yet, but you might find the www.fatgraftpatients.com forum website useful.  There are a number of personal experiences described and it may answer many of the questions you have. 

question..... has anyone had a "hard area or spot " after fat grafting.. if so does  it go away or is it something to call the PS about I had it done in Nov and have another sched in the spring. Thanks for any info you could give!

poem lady (and anyone else interested)...please do join in at wwwfatgraftpatients.com forum.  Lots of great information, support and laughs...

 tinkertude...I do tend to get a hard area in the center which has turned out to be a cyst (have had it drained but seem to come back...has been tested and is benign...gives a tiny "implant" effect and doesn't bother since most of the breast is soft.  The breast seemed to take quite a while for me to get soft though after the fat grafting.  Wouldn't expect it is anything to be concerned about unless it is warm to touch, tender...that kind of thing, but it never hurts to ask your PS (if he is familiar with fat grafting...or is he the one who did it?)

 pandazankar...I heard Dr. Delvicchio speak at the fat grafting conference in Miami in Oct. and he was very impressive.  I know psf had a PS who cooperated with the goal of fat grafting reconstruction and kept the folds and cleavage and did skin sparing....think that is so smart in reducing number of procedures needed...would check if there is anyone willing to consider that.

I am undergoing this procedure, I have done the initial procedure and will complete when the chemo is finished.  I am a RN and husband is a plastic surgeon so I know quite a bit about the procedure as he does this in his practice.

Hi all.  There is a company in San Diego called Cytori that has been taking fat/stem cells, processing it and reinjecting it.  There is a difference from taking just fat from your body like lipo and reinjecting it, as it does not have its own blood supply.  Some of it does get reabsorbed from what I've read.  The fat/stem cells that Cytori injects can create its own blood supply.  I will be looking into my options because the cancer center I am at does not do stem cells transfer.  I have a lot of rippling that I'd like filled in.  You can look up the company on the web.  I don't know if they treat patients or marketing the technology to medical centers????  But the good news is, soon there will be options for filling in divits etc.  Also, this Co. was on the cover of Wired magazine Nov. 2010...big cover picture of boob clevage! I think it is still fairly new, but I suspect the technology will explode in the near future.  Best wishes. 

FYI ~
The www.fatgraftpatients.com website, is, by its very own description, the:  Unofficial discussion forum for BRAVA Enhanced Autologous Fat Micro Grafting Patients (and Potential Patients)

It is, more or less, another Dr. Khouri BRAVA wbsite rather a general fat grafting website. 

The moderator is Alexandra. 

No matter how this forum goes, it ends up somehow advertising for him.

Be well,

Maria

mradf,

I'll try to explain myself here again - tho I have several times previously.

Early last year when I decided to have this procedure done, I tried to find another person anywhere online who had it. I couldn't find anyone. So I began to post myself, in hopes that I would....

1. I own a forum - alexandra-aaa.com - that is a support forum for women who never developed breasts. I've owned that for seven years. I shared my experiences there, starting with my consult last January.

2. I also shared it on justbreastimplants.com, because I had briefly considered implants to hide the defect from my lumpectomy (which would not have worked) and had previously spoken with women there about implants.

3. I posted it on BreastNexus.com as well, because there was a time I had tried several "Natural Breast Enhancement" techniques (herbs, etc.)

4. I shared on the "Old" BreastNexus forum as well, which got archived here:  - not knowing those two sites were consolidated.

5. There may be others that I'm not remembering.....

Thru all of those posts, I found many ladies interested, but none who had done it - which is what I was still looking for.

Then thru googling I came upon bc.org....again...(I explain how I previously found it in my profile)

But the time I found this thread, which was in May, it was a month AFTER my surgery. I held back from posting until July. Not because I thought anyone might, as Lee said, confuse my enthusiasm with advertising, but because I felt out of place, having had benign biopsies and a lumpectomy for a suspected malignancy. However, I thought sharing my experiences (especially the return of full sensation to tissue that had been completely numb for 18 years) might help someone, so I took the chance and posted anyway.

By that point, I had been discussing this with ladies on five different forums. It was exhausting, confusing to keep track of, and often redundant. To make MY life easier, I consolidated all of those above conversations by inviting those ladies to my alexandra-aaa.com forum. I purposely did NOT share it here for the very reason that I'd been accused of advertising from the get-go.

However, limiting the conversations to only flat-chested women, I felt did a disservice to others who might benefit from it - mastectomy and lumpectomy reconstruction, simple augmentation, reconstruction from other defects (Poland Syndrome, tubular breasts, etc.). I purchased the domain - FatGraftPatients.com - and moved all of the topics from alexandra-aaa.com to there.

I do remember cringing when someone first posted the link to it here, anticipating another advertising accusation. However, after receiving a number of PM's asking about it, decided to at least include the link in my profile.

I will be honest with you about something that I have not previously shared, even on my forum. After membership increased very significantly, and several ladies there asked me to do so, I DID approach Dr. Khouri about the forum, and recommended that he link to it from his site, or at least recommend it to patients and potential patients. It has been of such great benefit, not only to me, but to the many ladies who have joined and can share all the crazy idiosyncrasies of this procedure and provide support to one another as we go through it, that it seemed a disservice not to.

I'm not certain when, or if at all that may happen, but I surely hope it does. So for now, it remains as it states, "Unofficial discussion forum for BRAVA Enhanced Autologous Fat Micro Grafting Patients (and Potential Patients)".

Something I don't understand mradf, in your earlier posts on this thread you actually seemed as eager as most of us to find other patients who had undergone this procedure. I'm not sure why once more have joined and shared their experiences, it is perceived as anything more....?

Hi alexandra-aaa,

I was not certain that you are the same alexandra that runs www.fatgraftpatients.com, but now I am.  You are somewhat correct about my earlier posts in that I was eager to, and in fact did undergo, fat grafting - just not this propietary BRAVA method.   You also know that my earliers posts are clear about how I feel about the advertising, and acknowledging that Dr. Khouri is probably quite skilled.  I was reconstructed with implants two years before this thread was started, and the fat grafting for me was a revision.  I am delighted for those women who have found in Dr. Khouri an answer to their hopes and desires for reconstruction, just as I have found with my PS.  You are under no obligation to explain yourself here again, although you can do so if you feel it's necessary, just as I feel it's necessary to post as I do. 

Hi leeinf,

I am delighted for your success with Dr. Khouri.  I'm not certain anyone else here has posted a full reconstruction success story with his method.  Please correct me if I'm wrong. The reason I don't believe in sharing our doctors' names in an open forum is that some of us may have signed waivers agreeing that we would not.  Some may also go on to complain about complications after naming doctors thereby risking an inadvertant defamation.  I would PM my doctor's  name to anyone in my area needing a personal referral. 

I remain protective of the website and the benefit it brings to us all. 

Be well,

Maria