Investigating Methods to Prevent Blindness From Facial Fat Injections

In the article "Association of Autologous Fat Injection in Facial Artery With Ophthalmological Complications: An Experimental Animal Study" in this issue of JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery Liu et al highlight the importance of understanding this very rare but dreaded complication associated with facial fat injections. Using a rabbit model, the authors investigated ophthalmological consequences of retrograde injection into the facial artery, comparing minced fat, fat granules, fat lipid, and saline control injections. They found that the method of adipose tissue procurement played a significant role, contributing to the higher rates of blindness in the autologous (minced) particles. In documenting the detrimental effects of intraarterial fat injections using clinical and diagnostic measurements, their methodology and results support their claims in a convincing clinical and statistical fashion.