Fat microinfiltration autografting for facial restructuring in HIV patients.

Introduction: Antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV infection are closely associated with faciocervical and peripheral lipodystrophies. There are several options for surgical treatment of facial lipodystrophy, one of these was described by S. R. Coleman in 1994, the technique of fat transplantation.

Material And Methods: A retrospective study of 23 seropositive patients is presented, who were treated according to Coleman's technique. The surgical procedure was evaluated by clinical and CT analysis. The longest follow-up was 3 years.

Results: The technique was well tolerated from both a clinical and psychological point of view. 74% were successful. Multiple fat transplantation procedures were required to obtain a satisfactory result for the remaining patients. No complications were observed.

Discussion: Coleman's method is very simple. It is performed without using any biomaterial. There are aesthetic and social benefits for the patients. A limitation of this procedure is that some patients do not have enough fat at the donor site.

Conclusion: The results of this procedure after a maximum of 3 years postoperatively have been positive. However, there is a need of long-term experience with this method.