Lip Augmentation Procedure
LiveFill® is a new method of augmenting wrinkled or “deflated” areas in the face. Dr. Moelleken has innovated this technique, presented it at ASPS and ASAPS meetings, among many other national and international academic formats. Details of this procedure are in the Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and in Dr. Moelleken’s chapter on cosmetic rejuvenation of the midface and upper face in the 8-volume textbook Plastic Surgery (ed Mathes, Saunders, 2006). He has performed and presented the scientific trials on LiveFill® and has shown it to be vastly superior to fat injection in terms of viability, long-term survival, and appearance on histology.
A Need to Fill
There has been a long-standing need for filler materials in the field of cosmetic surgery. These filler materials are used to fill-in spaces, for example lips, smile lines, or the areas below the eyes. The most popular filler in use today is Juvederm or Restylane. These are fine hyaluronic acid fillers, just temporary in nature. Patients notice that they are happy with their faces right after injection, but the benefits fade over time as the fillers dissolve. Semi permanent injectable fillers such as silicone, Radiesse, Radiance and Artecoll, and Artefill are associated with lump formation or chronic problems and we will not provide them in our practice. Permanent fillers such as Gortex, SAM, or lip implants tend to feel unnatural and firm. Patients injected with fat are often disappointed by the long period of swelling followed by a disappointing resorption (loss) of the graft over time.
LiveFill®
Dr. Moelleken has developed and trademarked LiveFill®. This is a new technique that expands on decades of research in the Plastic Surgery field. It involves grafts from the patient's own tissues that are fully alive. The material is obtained as a customized fine graft with blood vessels already in it. This differs fundamentally from fat injection, which involves sucking (aspirating) fat into a syringe, purifying it in some fashion (usually by centrifugation), and then injecting it through a needle. It is no surprise that this process is highly damaging to a living network of cells. With LiveFill® Dr. Moelleken fashions completely untraumatized tissue from the patient into small, delicate grafts, resembling strings of pearls, that have structural integrity and blood supply. They are different from any rendition of grafted material developed thus far. The face does not age in lines; it ages in areas. Therefore it is better to fill in complete areas rather than placing something underneath a single line. LiveFill® is placed underneath the areas that need filling, such as lips, smile lines, under eye areas, and in hollow areas in the face that come with age. LiveFill® is usually taken from an incision in the lower abdomen.
Dr. Moelleken has been developing LiveFill® for over eight years, and it has become a regular part of his practice. Once LiveFill® has been placed, it again becomes an integral part of the body's tissue and the results are permanent. When a biopsy is taken of LiveFill®, it appears to be normal tissue, with its own blood supply. This is not true of any filler, temporary, or of fat injection. The genetic markers of LiveFill® are identical to the patient's, since the tissue comes from the patient's own body. There is never rejection of one's own tissues. Occasionally, minor irregularities or incomplete take of the graft, depending on the patient’s biology, can result from the LiveFill® technique. If this happens, they are corrected under local anesthesia.
Healing time is very rapid since no over-correction is necessary, in comparison with fat injection. Patients typically only require a long weekend to recover. They may begin exercise in two weeks and full exercise and workouts by six weeks.
Dr. Moelleken is very excited about this and proud to having originated this very promising procedure.
Dr. Moelleken frequently incorporates LiveFill® while performing facelifts (including his trademarked 360 Facelift®) blepharoplasties, browlifts, or his signature superficial cheeklift operation.
