Pearl fat grafting, was used in the 19th century and seems to be re-discovered by some doctors in the seventies. Shortly after liposuction was introduced by a French Plastic Surgeon, Yves Gerard Illouz since the 1980s, the use of fat injection in plastic surgery has been widely used in treating many serious conditions due to disease, trauma, or birth defect. For near twenty years, fat auto-grafting remained an accepted technique in the treatment of depressions and augmenting thin soft tissues in plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery.

The facial autograft muscle injection (FAMI™ ) technique has to be inscribed in the continuity of these first attempts to achieve a long lasting restoration of volumes.In the cosmetic surgery realm, fat transfer or fat grafting is still considered quite controversial because of lack of harmonious longevity, and lumpy results which imply numerous touch ups.

In the nineties, Dr Roger E. Amar, a French Plastic Surgeon, graduated in Paris and practicing in Marseilles, France and Marbella, Spain, developped a new technique FAMI™ – Facial rejuvenation and repair technique and a new concept – Non-incisional anti-aging alternative to traditional face-lift surgery.

FAMI™ stand for FAT AUTOGRAFT MUSCLE INJECTION became the state-of the-art of autologous fat transplant techniques for facial rejuvenation and repair. FAMI™ technique is made to inject the muscles of facial expression and under facial bone surface periosteum.This procedure is reserved to high skilled surgeons who took Dr Amar courses and were trained with proprietary instrumentation.

In each State one can find a surgeon who took the course with Dr Amar. However the level of their skill and the quality of their work have never been tested by Dr Amar.Dr Roger E. Amar, the FAMI™ founder has always been concerned by the quality of the results and the safety of the procedure and progressively he is going to monitor the work of his scholars.

In Denver Colorado it’s now possible to visit a surgeon who can offer a monitored by Dr Roger E. Amar pre and postoperatively.

The fat transfer best practitioner in Denver Colorado cannot offer FAMI™ procedure if He or Her was not trained in cadaver with special instrumentation. The patented cannulas are used only by Dr Amar scholars to make safe and atraumatic the muscle injection.

The FAMI™ procedure provides a permanent more youthful appearance by correction of facial volume deficiencies. Small quantities of Adipose stem cells are injected into the center of most vascularized tissue, the muscles, to get their oxygen supply, survive and last virtually a lifetime.

The FAMI™ . technique supposes two premises: that the volume lost during aging is not only fat, but involves atrophy of muscle and bone; and that transplanted fat survives best next to muscle. Several histological studies support this rationale.

With the FAMI™ . procedure, autologous adipose stem cells are injected within the muscles of facial expression, thereby restoring fullness following the template of the patients’ own anatomy, minimizing trauma and optimizing survival of the fat. There were no reported complications, down time was minimal, and patient satisfaction was high.

Ideal candidates for this procedure are those with a gaunt look, hollowing eyes or flattened cheeks and lips. It is especially effective for post-facelift patients who wish to avoid the pulled appearance of multiple lifts.

Although questions regarding the longevity of all fat transplant methods including the FAMI™technique remain. These clinical findings demonstrate that the FAMI™ procedure provided a more predictable, long-term solution to age-related facial defects and successfully restored the smooth, attractive contours of youth.

The best FAMI™ indications are: temporal hollows, baggy eyelids, crow’s feet, tear trough, deep nasolabial folds, marionette wrinkles etc…

This method brings the fatty connective tissue transplant to the contact of the best vascular bed in the face and skull, giving the maximum of chance to any transplant to set.

The biggest difficulty in the learning of this technique is the identification of the 30 muscles of facial expression and the injection with the FAMI™ set in a way that, at first respects venous and lymphatic vascularization. The absence of repulsive bruising, or long lasting edema is a FAMI™ post operative immediate characteristic which demonstrate the precision of the procedure.

The rate of patient satisfaction is high due to the high rate of transplant success without necessity of touching up.

Although face-lifting was used by the author for rejuvenation during 25 years, FAMI™ is now considered as the best non invasive method for patients seeking facial prevention of aging and/or rejuvenation.