Does Stromal Vascular Fraction Supplementation Improve Facial Lipotransfer?

Gontijo-de-Amorim et al¹ claim that fat enriched with the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) improves volume retention after facial lipotransfer. The authors describe a comparison of 5 patients injected with enriched fat vs 5 patients injected without SVF supplementation using computed tomography (CT). The authors report that the enriched fat group lost only 9.6% of its volume vs 24% in the untreated group.¹ The authors simply centrifuge the lipoaspirate rather than separating it enzymatically using collagenase to isolate adipose-derived stem cells.¹ Whether the cell pellet left at the bottom of the tube after centrifugation truly represents the SVF is open to question.²