Since Coleman et al. in 1991 reported on lipofilling, numerous applications have been reported; these include but are not limited to contour restoration, lip augmentation and wrinkle therapy. There have also been some one-off reports of improvements in scars following autologous lipofilling. This paper is a prospective clinical evaluation of 26 patients with 35 scars on the face treated with autologous lipofilling between 2008 and 2012. The most common causes of the scars were trauma and surgical excision of nevus and acne. Scars caused by resection of malignant tumours were excluded. Standardised preoperative and postoperative assessments were used to assess success, patient and observer scar assessment scale (POSAS), photographs and LASER doppler spectrometry of oxygen saturation (to assess the micro circulation). Postoperatively patients were followed up at one, three, six and twelve months. Scar quality was improved in all cases with a high patient satisfaction. There was also an increase in the postoperative haemoglobin levels in the scar area. While this study has a limited number of cases and the authors concede further studies are necessary this is a valuable technique to add to the facial surgeon’s armamentarium.
Lipofilling for scar improvement
Reviewed by Sunil K Bhatia
Improvement of facial scar appearance and microcirculation by autologous lipofilling.
