Hand Fat Grafting

Hand fat grafting restores the youthful volume of the dorsal (back of) hand by injecting the patient's own fat into the tissue plane between the skin and underlying tendons and bones. Volume loss in the hands accelerates with age, leaving prominent veins, protruding tendons, and a bony appearance that often appears disproportionately aged relative to the face. Art Ethic performs the procedure under general anaesthesia; fat is harvested from the abdomen or thighs and injected through tiny entry points that leave no visible scars on the hands themselves.

The hands are one of the most reliable indicators of chronological age — they lose subcutaneous fat, collagen, and skin elasticity progressively from the fourth decade, leaving the underlying architecture of veins, tendons, and interosseous grooves increasingly visible. Hand fat grafting directly addresses this anatomical change by restoring the volume layer that separates skin from deeper structures. At Art Ethic Beauty Clinic, doc. MUDr. Martin Molitor, Ph.D., MBA performs the procedure under general anaesthesia in approximately one hour. Fat is harvested from the donor site — usually the abdomen or inner thigh — using a small-volume liposuction technique, then centrifuged to obtain pure, viable adipocytes. The processed fat is loaded into fine injection syringes and delivered to the dorsal hand subcutaneous layer through pinpoint entry sites that leave no visible scarring. The injection is performed in multiple small aliquots distributed across the entire dorsal surface of each hand, plumping the tissue to obscure prominent veins and tendons, smooth the skin surface, and restore youthful fullness. The surgeon plans the injection volume to slightly overfill, anticipating that 20–30% of the transferred fat will be reabsorbed by the body over the following weeks; stable results are evident at three to four months. Recovery involves one to two weeks at home with restricted hand use (no heavy gripping or vigorous hand activity); light activity resumes after one week; unrestricted use from eight weeks. Hands may be mildly swollen for two to three weeks. The regenerative growth factors within the transferred fat may also improve skin texture and reduce fine wrinkling on the dorsal surface over time, beyond the volumising effect alone. Hand fat grafting is a permanent solution — unlike hyaluronic acid fillers used in the hands (which resorb within six to twelve months), successfully integrated fat remains indefinitely. Patients considering this procedure should be at a stable weight, as significant subsequent weight loss can reduce the maintained volume.