Immediate fat and nanofat-enriched fat grafting in breast reduction for scar management.

[BACKGROUND] Reduction mammoplasty can be successful but surgical scars may continue to be a most undesirable and unavoidable outcome. Various medical and non-invasive methods are available to minimize scar formation but as yet no methods have been discovered to eliminate them. We hypothesize that immediate fat and nanofat-enriched fat graft transfer may improve the scar quality and optimize results.

[MATERIALS AND METHODS] This prospective study comprised 45 superomedial pedicle wise-pattern breast reduction patients divided into three groups of 15 in a randomized fashion. The control group had no additional injections whereas the other two groups received injections of fat and nanofat-enriched fat grafts immediately under their surgery scars, respectively. Surgical scar formation was evaluated at six months and scars were scored using the Vancouver scar scale and a visual analogue scale.

[RESULTS] Fat and nanofat-enriched fat graft-injected groups scored significantly better on all items of the Vancouver scar scale, except for scar height, compared to the control group ( < 0.05). Visual analogue scores were significantly lower in the fat and nanofat-enriched fat graft-injected groups compared to the control group ( < 0.05).

[CONCLUSIONS] In breast reduction patients, simultaneous fat and nanofat-enriched fat grafting appears to be a safe and promising strategy for scar management.