Personalized plastic surgery, laser & anti-aging care in Haeundae, Busan
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Fat Grafting & Anti-Aging
Facial fat grafting in Busan, Korea using the clinic's Designed Fat Grafting plan of mapped areas and volumes, by Dr. Kim Ki-tae at TAE Plastic Surgery.
Fat Grafting and Anti-Aging in Busan, Korea
Medically reviewed by Dr. Kim Ki-tae, MD — Board-Certified Specialist in Plastic Surgery, Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons; Director and founder, TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic, Haeundae-gu, Busan
Fat grafting in Busan is a surgical procedure that adds volume to the face by harvesting the patient's own fat and subjecting it to centrifugation and purification. At TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic in Haeundae-gu it is carried out under a named plan the clinic calls Designed Fat Grafting, which fixes the treatment areas and the amount of fat before any transfer begins. The distinction that matters is between filling hollows one at a time and designing a face as a whole.
What Is Fat Grafting & Anti-Aging?
Fat Grafting & Anti-Aging is a surgical procedure that restores facial volume using the patient's own fat, harvested from a donor site, purified, and transferred into areas mapped out in advance.
The fat is the patient's own tissue, not a manufactured material.
Harvested fat is put through centrifugation and purification before transfer.
The treatment areas and the volume for each are determined before the transfer step.
The clinic's stated aim is natural three-dimensional facial volume rather than the filling of individual depressions.
Some transferred fat may be naturally reabsorbed, so the retained volume varies between patients.
The reasons patients give for wanting it are consistent: natural-looking volume restoration, facial rejuvenation, and correction of age-related volume loss. International patients are recorded as also valuing the personalized planning step, which is the part of this procedure that is hardest to compare between clinics.
The clinic's own description of Designed Fat Grafting is worth reading closely, because it describes a sequence rather than a technique. The clinic first designs overall facial contours, determines specific grafting areas and volumes, and then performs precise fat transplantation according to the plan, with the stated purpose of maintaining natural boundaries and facial harmony from multiple angles. The phrase "from multiple angles" is doing real work there — a face that looks corrected head-on and overfilled in profile is the failure mode this plan is written against.
Independent patient information on autologous fat transfer, including the point that a proportion of grafted fat does not survive, is published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
That variability is the honest centre of this procedure and it is why the planning step exists at all. A volume decided in advance for a specific area is a number the surgeon can work back from when some of the graft is lost. A volume decided at the table, area by area, is not.
The clinic's stated approach is to assess skin condition and the underlying tissue structure together, because the two determine what any single treatment can realistically achieve.
Who Performs Fat Grafting & Anti-Aging at TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic
**Dr. Kim Ki-tae
**Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon
Fat Grafting & Anti-Aging is performed by Dr. Kim Ki-tae, the clinic's founder and sole doctor and the listed performing doctor for the parent Fat & Body Contouring specialty.
Fat grafting is named directly among his documented core specializations, alongside liposuction and body contouring — which is relevant here because the harvest and the transfer are the same operation performed by the same hands.
Dr. Kim Ki-tae holds the Board-Certified Specialist designation in Plastic Surgery issued by the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. He graduated from Inje University College of Medicine and trained as a Clinical Fellow in the Department of Plastic Surgery at Pusan National University from March 2003 to February 2004. He founded TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic in 2005 and has practised there ever since.
He chairs the Academic Committee of the Laser Plastic Surgery Research Group at the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, sits on that society's Academic Committee, serves on the Legislation Committee of the Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons, and is General Affairs Director of the Busan Medical Association. He is a full member of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, an international member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and a full member of the International Confederation for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery.
On what a good result actually is, his published position sets a higher bar than volume alone. He states that a youthful appearance is not achieved by wrinkle-free, taut volume alone, and that a more complex set of factors must be satisfied — natural facial expression maintained, and skin and facial shape looking younger than the patient's age — even if some wrinkles remain.
TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic is a single-doctor clinic, so the surgeon who assesses you is the surgeon who treats you. His full profile is on the doctor page. Fat grafting is one of five services listed under Fat & Body Contouring.
Who Is a Good Candidate for Fat Grafting & Anti-Aging?
You may be a candidate if
You are an adult with age-related facial volume loss.
You have hollow or sunken facial areas.
Your face reads as aged or tired rather than as having a single defined problem.
You have an area that needs additional three-dimensional volume.
You have sufficient donor fat for the volume being planned.
You want facial rejuvenation using your own tissue.
You hold realistic expectations about the outcome.
You may need to avoid or postpone treatment if
You have an uncontrolled chronic condition such as diabetes or heart disease.
You are pregnant or breastfeeding.
You have an active infection at the treatment site.
You have a significant wound-healing concern.
You have insufficient donor fat, in which case another treatment strategy may be needed.
You have a medication-related bleeding risk that has not been discussed with the surgeon.
Individual suitability requires medical assessment, and the final decision is made by the doctor after that assessment.
What to Expect: Procedure, Recovery, and Results Timeline
The clinic performs facial structure and muscle analysis before designing the plan. It evaluates facial structure, muscle layers, and skin condition, then designs the overall facial contour and determines the treatment areas and the amount of fat to be transplanted.
The procedure itself runs in three documented steps.
Facial structure and muscle analysis. Facial structure, muscle layers and skin condition are analyzed according to individual characteristics.
Fat grafting surgery design. The overall facial contours and the treatment areas are designed based on the analysis results.
Careful transplantation of fat cells. Fat cells are transplanted into the planned areas according to the designed treatment plan.
Anesthesia and pain control for this procedure is typically performed under local anesthesia, with sedation used for patient comfort where needed. The exact approach is confirmed with the patient at consultation based on individual comfort and medical history. Treatment duration and the number of visits depend on the amount of fat transferred, the treatment areas, the anesthesia used, and recovery requirements.
The clinic documents premium TULIP cannulas among the equipment used for harvesting and transfer.
Early recovery commonly involves swelling, bruising, tenderness and temporary unevenness. The unevenness is worth expecting rather than being surprised by, because a face that has just received mapped volumes in several places does not settle everywhere at the same rate. The exact recovery period depends on how much fat was harvested and transplanted, which donor site was used, and whether other procedures were combined in the same operation.
| Stage | What the clinic documents |
|---|---|
| First one to two weeks | Mild swelling and bruising at the donor and graft sites usually settle |
| Two to three weeks | A visible change is usually apparent as most swelling resolves |
| After that | Transferred fat undergoes a settling process, and some is naturally reabsorbed |
| Final assessment | Once swelling has substantially resolved and the transplanted fat has stabilized |
| Stay in Korea | Roughly five to seven days is generally advised for international patients |
Most patients can fly home once early swelling has settled, typically within about a week. Long-haul flight timing should be confirmed with the treating doctor for the individual case.
Aftercare avoids anything that disturbs the graft. Do not apply unnecessary pressure, rubbing or manipulation to the grafted areas unless the clinic instructs otherwise. Follow the wound-care instructions for the donor area. Avoid strenuous activity until cleared. Do not massage the face independently or apply aggressive treatments to the grafted areas. The clinic issues written aftercare guidance that covers the timeline day by day.
Combining Fat Grafting & Anti-Aging with Other Treatments
The clinic states that surgical procedures may be combined with premium laser and energy-based treatments as part of personalized treatment planning. The right combination depends on your anatomy and goals and is decided with the treating doctor at consultation.
Liposuction – Face & Body — the clinic documents fat grafting to the face or hips as a frequent pairing with liposuction, which supplies the donor fat.
Autologous Fat Grafting for Aegyo-Sal — a separate service for the under-eye area, covered on its own page.
Stem Cell MCT Injection — the clinic's separate regenerative program, which describes adipose-derived components used for fat grafting and skin regeneration.
NP Profound — an energy-based lifting treatment that can be considered alongside volume restoration.
Safety, Precision, and Clinic Standards
The clinic has operated at the same address in Haeundae, Busan since 2005. TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic is a Registered Medical Institution for Attracting Foreign Patients, certified by the Ministry of Health and Welfare under the Medical Overseas Expansion and Foreign Patients Attraction Act.
The clinic's stated method of reducing risk here is the design step itself. It analyzes facial structure, muscle layers and skin condition before determining the areas and volume to be grafted. It then describes careful fat-cell transplantation carried out according to that predesigned plan.
Possible effects include swelling, bruising, temporary discomfort, asymmetry, infection, fat absorption, or contour irregularities. Potential risks include bleeding, hematoma, overcorrection or undercorrection, fat necrosis, changes in sensation, donor-site irregularities, and the possibility of needing additional treatment. Rare complications can occur, so appropriate medical evaluation and follow-up are important. General information on the risks of cosmetic procedures is published by the NHS (NHS).
TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic publishes neither case volumes nor complication rates for this procedure, and this page claims neither. The clinic has not published an approved-claims list for this procedure and this market, so this page states no efficacy or outcome claim beyond what the clinic itself documents. The clinic has not published a price or a price range for this procedure, so none is stated here, and cost is confirmed at consultation.
The Bottom Line
Fat grafting here restores facial volume using the patient's own purified fat.
The clinic's Designed Fat Grafting plan fixes areas and volumes before any transfer takes place.
Retention of grafted fat varies, and a proportion is naturally reabsorbed.
Dr. Kim Ki-tae performs the procedure, and fat grafting is a named core specialization.
International patients are generally advised to plan roughly five to seven days in Korea.
FAQ
How is fat grafting different from filler?
Fat grafting uses your own tissue, which integrates and moves naturally but whose retention varies between patients. Filler uses a manufactured material with predictable immediate volume but a finite duration. The two are answering the same complaint with different trade-offs, and which one suits you is a consultation decision rather than a general rule.
How much of the grafted fat lasts?
The proportion retained cannot be predicted for an individual patient. Some transferred fat is naturally reabsorbed, and the amount that survives varies with tissue characteristics, the treated areas and individual healing. The clinic states that neither the proportion retained nor the achievement of the planned volume in a single session can be promised.
Where does the fat come from?
It is harvested from the patient's own body and then put through centrifugation and purification before it is transferred to the face. The donor site is selected at consultation. The donor area may be sore, bruised or swollen afterward, and it has its own wound-care instructions.
How long does the procedure take?
Treatment time varies according to the number of facial areas treated, the amount of fat required, the harvesting site, the purification process, and whether other procedures are performed at the same time. The clinic gives an expected duration once the plan is set. It is a planned operation rather than a fixed-length appointment.
Is it painful?
Discomfort is controlled with anesthesia during the procedure, and mild soreness afterward is normally managed with standard pain medication. Individual pain tolerance varies, and the clinic can adjust comfort measures on request. Both the graft sites and the donor site can be tender in the first days.
What should I do before surgery?
Give the doctor your medical history, medications and supplements, allergies, previous facial procedures, and any previous fillers or fat grafting. Discuss the specific facial changes you want and where you want additional volume. Do not change prescribed medication without medical advice, and follow the clinic's individual preoperative instructions.
What should I do if something concerns me after I fly home?
Contact the clinic promptly with a description of the symptoms and, where appropriate, clear photographs. Patients can send photographs of the concern for the clinic to review remotely before the clinic advises on next steps. Rapidly increasing swelling, severe pain, significant bleeding, fever, breathing difficulty, chest pain or visual changes need urgent local medical assessment.
Book a Consultation at TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic
Fat grafting is available in Busan at TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic, and the consultation is where the facial map and the volume for each area are decided. English-speaking assistance is available for both online and in-person consultations, and consultations are arranged through the clinic's contact page. TAE Plastic Surgery Clinic is at 4th Floor, Gunam Building, 27 Gunam-ro, Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea, and opens Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 18:00 and Saturday from 09:00 to 13:00, closed Sundays and public holidays.
Disclaimer
This page is for general informational purposes and does not constitute individualized medical advice. Candidacy, technique, anaesthesia and outcome can only be determined in an in-person consultation with a qualified doctor. Individual results vary.
References
American Society of Plastic Surgeons — Fat transfer
NHS — Cosmetic procedures