It was the most devastating thing that had ever happened to 37-year-old Tina Alexander. She never had acne as a kid. Then, it struck hard as an adult. “It was awful. It kept me secluded in the house sometimes when it was so bad. Whenever I did go out, having to cake on make-up, it was plain old embarrassing,” said Tina.

It took more than seven years of trial and error to come up with a hormonal treatment that got rid of the cysts on Tina’s face. But the pain didn’t end when the acne stopped. She was left with 27 scars on her cheeks, chin, and forehead. “That was depressing,” said Tina.

She was determined to fix the flaws on her face. She spent close to $14,000 on different methods of scar removal like dermabrasion, the Co2 laser procedure, and Smooth Beam laser treatments. “On a few of the really light surface scars, it may have helped a little bit. It definitely didn’t do what they expected it to. It basically didn’t work,” said Tina.

At this point, Tina realized she needed something to fill in the scars. She didn’t like the idea of putting a man-made filler in her face; that’s when she discovered the permanent, natural filler-fat.

Fat grafting is when you take small parcels of fat from one part of the body and move them to another part. It’s most commonly used to get rid of wrinkles. Dr. Alesia Saboeiro of Tribeca Plastic Surgery in New York, N.Y., said, “It’s just now starting to be used for acne scarring. That might be why people don’t know about it. I’m a plastic surgeon, and I didn’t know it could be used for acne scarring until recently.”

Tina had Dr. Saboeiro perform her surgery in December 2004. It’s done under heavy sedation and takes a couple of hours. Live fat cells were taken from Tina’s thighs. The cells were placed in the subcutaneous (fat) layer of her face using a blunt instrument called a “cannula.” Because the tip isn’t sharp like a needle, there’s no danger of damaging an artery or nerve.

Dr. Saboeiro said to be wary of a doctor who freezes fat cells. “The ice crystals that form likely kill the fat cells. That means you’ll have to have the (fat grafting) procedure done several times because your body will absorb the dead fat cells.”

Tina said the procedure made an incredible difference in her skin, and she feels lucky to have found it. “Fat grafting is life changing. I’m so much more confident. I can wear my hair up in a ponytail. I’m not fighting depression anymore.”

Tina’s procedure cost $18, 500. She says it was worth every penny, and she hopes anyone who wants to fix scars looks into the procedure before wasting money on treatments that don’t work. Fat grafting also is being used to restore a youthful look to hands, eyes, and lips. Fat can also be transferred to the buttocks and the breasts. Most people in good health are candidates for fat grafting unless they don’t have excess fat on their body to remove.

If you’d like to see Tina Alexander’s before and after pictures, go to www.lipostructure.com. Click on “restructuring” and “scars.” TPW