Invasive Techniques in Scar Management: Fat Injections

Excerpt

Since the end of the nineteenth century, fat grafting has become one of the most promising treatments for posttraumatic deformities and more in general for scars. Its easy application and collection have made it as the ideal therapy to restore volume and pliability, and contour and to prevent symptoms as pain. In these years the application method, the indications and the guidelines have been changed many times. In this chapter, we analyze why fat grafting is becoming so popular in the twentieth century and what is the scientific rational to use autologous adipose tissue. We will also discuss the current guidelines and the possible applications. At the end, we will also present some new fields such as the application of autologous fat grafting in the treatment of the hypertrophic scars and how we can try to improve its engraftment using external mechanical forces (the external negative pressure therapy) and/or the plasma-rich platelet (PRP).