Dr Aran Aso — Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
Aftercare

Fat Grafting Recovery

Guidance for donor-site liposuction care, protecting grafted areas from pressure, swelling, activity, and urgent warning signs after fat grafting.

If something feels urgent, do not wait on this website.

Contact the clinical team promptly. For severe or rapidly worsening symptoms, use local emergency services or the nearest appropriate emergency department. This website is not monitored as an emergency service.

These are general instructions. Follow the written and verbal plan given for your own operation when it differs.

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  • Use these instructions as general guidance only. If your surgeon or clinic team gave you different instructions, follow the clinic instructions.
  • Keep your follow-up appointment even if you feel well. Early review helps the clinic notice small issues before they become larger problems.

What is usually normal

  • You may feel sore in two kinds of areas: where fat was taken and where fat was placed.
  • Swelling, bruising, firmness, and uneven early fullness are common and usually change over weeks.

Donor-site care

  • Follow liposuction instructions for the donor area, including dressings, drainage, compression, and shower timing.
  • Expect the donor site to feel more bruised or tender than the grafted area in some patients.

Protect the grafted area

  • Avoid pressure, massage, deep rubbing, tight garments, or sleeping directly on the grafted area unless your surgeon instructs otherwise.
  • If fat was placed in the face, keep the head elevated and avoid facial pressure from pillows, devices, or masks.
  • Keep weight stable and eat normally unless your surgeon or physician gives you a specific plan.

Activity

  • Gentle walking is encouraged. Avoid intense exercise and direct pressure on the grafted area until cleared.
  • Avoid smoking and nicotine because they can reduce blood flow during healing.

Call the clinic urgently

  • Call if grafted skin becomes very pale, dusky, black, blistered, cold, or increasingly painful.
  • Call for fever, pus, spreading redness, bad odor, worsening asymmetry with severe pain, or a new hard painful lump.
  • Call urgently for donor-site bleeding that soaks pads, calf pain or swelling, chest pain, or shortness of breath.

Emergency signs

  • Seek emergency care now for chest pain, shortness of breath, fainting, severe uncontrolled bleeding, or a fast irregular heartbeat.
  • Seek urgent care for new one-sided calf swelling, warmth, redness, or cramping, especially after body or breast surgery.
  • After eye surgery or facial fillers, sudden vision change, severe eye pain, or stroke-like symptoms should be treated as an emergency.

Dr Aran Aso · +964 774 400 1515

https://aranaso.com/aftercare/fat-grafting