Some websites describe forehead and chin fat injections as non-surgical, which is misleading. The fat is normally collected from another part of your body by liposuction, processed, and then placed into the face, so you are having two procedures in one session.

Key takeaways

  • Fat grafting is not a needle-only treatment: the fat is usually taken from another body area by liposuction, then injected into the face.
  • A pooled review of 4,577 patients found about 42% of the injected volume still present at roughly 14 months, so touch-ups are possible.
  • Complication rates reported for facial fat grafting range from about 1.5% to 81% depending on the study, and the forehead and glabella are among the sites linked to rare, serious blood-vessel events.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) describes the method in a 2024 feature on fat grafting: surgeons most often harvest fat via liposuction from different areas of the body, and the donor site varies by patient. The same article says swelling after the procedure can last about two weeks and that, as with any procedure, complications can occur.

What does fat grafting to the forehead or chin involve?

There are three steps. A small cannula collects fat from a donor area such as the abdomen or thighs. The fat is then processed to separate it from blood and fluid. Finally, it is placed in the target area, in small amounts, through fine needles or cannulas.

On the forehead, the aim is usually to fill hollows or smooth contour irregularities. On the chin, it is used to add projection or change the outline. If you want a larger change in chin projection, ask your surgeon how fat compares with implants or bone surgery. Our guide to chin reshaping approaches compares the main options. For the bone-surgery route planned as a trip, see sliding genioplasty in Turkey.

Published research does not look at forehead or chin grafting alone. The large reviews group results by facial third. In the 2019 systematic review described below, 32.5% of injection sites were in the upper face, 53% in the middle face and 14.5% in the lower face, so chin data are a small part of the evidence. Removing fat from the face, as in buccal fat removal, is a different operation.

How much of the injected fat lasts?

Not all of it. A 2019 systematic review in JPRAS Open pooled 43 studies covering 4,577 patients with facial fat grafting. The mean weighted volume retention of non-enriched grafts was 41.63% at follow-up, on average 13.9 months after surgery. The mean injected volume was 16.9 ml.

That figure is an average across different techniques and facial areas. Individual results will differ, and sources do not give a reliable retention rate for the forehead or chin specifically. Ask your surgeon whether they plan for this loss, for example by injecting extra or scheduling a second session, and what a touch-up costs.

What can go wrong?

Most reported problems are mild, but the range is wide and the evidence is uneven.

  • Asymmetry, irregular contour and lumps. In the same review, 104 complications (2.27%) were reported, most of them asymmetry (74 cases), followed by skin irregularities (14), prolonged swelling (4), graft hypertrophy (4), fat necrosis (3) and infection (2).
  • A wide spread in complication rates. A 2022 systematic review in the Journal of Clinical Medicine found average complication rates ranging from 1.5% to 81.4% across studies. Its authors say the commonly quoted figure of about 2% cannot be confirmed because of under-reporting and the lack of a shared definition of a side effect. Among 298 adverse events it identified, prolonged swelling (24.5%), irregularities (19.1%) and acne activation (16.8%) were the most frequent, and fat necrosis made up 7%.
  • Rare, serious blood-vessel events. The same review classified intravascular injection or migration as a severe category (13.4% of the 298 events), needing neurological or neurosurgical management and sometimes leading to permanent disability or death. A 2023 systematic review in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery collected 61 reported cases of arterial embolism after facial fat injection. The glabella (the area between the eyebrows) and multiple facial regions were the most common sites (16 cases each), followed by the temples (10) and the forehead (9). Permanent vision loss occurred in all 26 patients whose ophthalmic artery was blocked.

These events are described in case reports and reviews, so no reliable rate exists. They are not a reason to avoid the procedure by themselves, but they do explain why forehead and glabella injections call for a surgeon who can describe, in detail, how they reduce this risk.

What should you ask your surgeon before fat grafting?

  • Where will the fat come from, and who performs the liposuction and the injection?
  • How much fat do you plan to inject, and how much do you expect to remain after a year?
  • What happens if the result is uneven or too much remains? Is a touch-up included, and at what price?
  • Which technique do you use for the forehead, and how do you lower the risk of injecting into a blood vessel?
  • What swelling and bruising should I expect at the donor and the injection sites, and for how long?
  • What warning signs after the procedure (changes in vision, severe pain, skin color change) mean I must contact you or an emergency service immediately?
  • Is fat grafting done in the same session as my nose surgery, and does that change the quote or the recovery plan?

On that last point, published studies do not compare adding forehead or chin fat to rhinoplasty with doing the two separately. In common practice in Turkey, fat transfer alongside a nose job is done only occasionally, costs extra and does not lengthen the stay (editorial note, October 2026). Some surgeons combine procedures to balance the profile, and some prefer to stage them. Our guide to facial procedures combined with rhinoplasty lists the common pairings, and the piece on combined facial surgery covers the trade-offs of doing more in one operation.

Choosing who does the work

Fat grafting looks simple, but the research above shows that technique and anatomy knowledge matter. ASPS advises looking for a board-certified plastic surgeon. If you are traveling for surgery, our guide to finding a rhinoplasty surgeon explains how to check credentials through official registers.

Sources

All pages were opened and checked on 10 October 2026.