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Fat tissue the size of small pearls (3-5 mm in diameter) may be harvested from distant donor sites (most typically from the fat around the belly button or beneath the pubic hair) and grafted into the eye socket to augment overlying areas of eyelid hollowness. Depending upon the severity of the volume deficiency, a variable quantity of pearls are implanted. |
Several old reports indicated a survival rate of between 50-90% for pearl fat implanted just beneath the eyelid skin. Our experience with deeper orbital implantation suggests a higher rate of take. While older superficial methods often resulted in noticeable lumpiness, deep placement of orbital fat provides a much smoother fill.
Deep pearl fat placement into the orbit provides volume enhancement that is more predictable while creating no external scar.
The pearl fat is grafted through a hidden incision into the natural anatomic compartment for orbital fat located behind the orbital septum and between the bone and eye. |
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| Lower eyelid hollowness after blepharoplasty elsewhere |
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Immediately After |
| (Surgery by Dr. Frank Meronk)
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Orbital pearl fat graft initial "take" is significantly higher than with injected fat cells obtained by liposuction, most likely because of (1) much decreased trauma during fat harvesting, (2) the preservation of normal fat tissue "architecture" (normal connective tissue, blood vessels, nerves, etc.), and (3) placement of the graft into the normal anatomical location intended for orbital fat rather than beneath the eyelid skin or into the eyelid muscle where fat does not occur naturally. View healed orbital fat graft in place eight months after surgery
For treatment of upper eyelid hollowness, we employ a wider variety of approaches, some of which utilize pearl fat.
• Lower orbital pearl fat graft before-and-after photos
• Orbital fat grafting FAQs
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