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Click Here to see the LiveFill™ procedure Graphic (lips and cheeks)
Click Here to see the LiveFill™ procedure Graphic (multiple areas)
Background
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 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 collagen. There are many other fillers, such as Gortex, SAM, Restylane, Alloderm, Perlane, Fat injection, and a number of fillers based either on plastic beads or silicone. All have problems. Collagen, although safe in the vast majority of patients, is temporary, usually lasting 3 months. Restylane and all hyaluronic acid (HA) products, are temporary, and then will be gone and need re-injection. Synthetic materials (Gortex, SAM) can leave three-dimensional irregularities in the skin, and can be felt through the skin. Alloderm is cadaver material; and silicone tends to run over time, causing chronic infections and disfigurement. Any permanent material such as Artecoll that does not have its own blood supply can become infected, sometimes chronically. Many materials grow lumpy, especially if they are bone fragment based, have synthetic material in them, or are not living. Once fat is harvested and injected, it is already 80% dead. So the doctor must exaggerate the amount he uses. The survival of fat injection is also unpredictable.
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 be 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™, and Dr. Moelleken fashions 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, he feels 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 five 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. It is possible that minor irregularities 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, as 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 have originated this very promising procedure.
Dr. Moelleken now frequently incorporates LiveFill™ while performing facelifts (including his trademarked 360 Facelift™) blepharoplasties, browlifts, or his signature superficial cheeklift operation.
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Livefill to lips.
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Livefill to lips.
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Livefill to lips-naso labial folds, face/necklift, cheeklift
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Livefill to lips-naso labial folds, face/necklift, cheeklift
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Livefill to temporal hollows, cheeks, nasolabial folds
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Livefill to temporal hollows, cheeks, nasolabial folds
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Livefill to upper lip, naso labial folds
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Livefill to upper lip, naso labial folds
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Livefill to lips, face/necklift
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Livefill to lips, face/necklift
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Face-necklift, upper blepharoplasty, lateral browlift, Livefill to lips, CO2 laser resurfacing
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Face-necklift, upper blepharoplasty, lateral browlift, Livefill to lips, CO2 laser resurfacing
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