This is currently the main issue with breast fat transfer — the fat does not always survive well. Unfortunately, this is the reality. The mammary gland has relatively limited blood supply, and the tissue’s capacity to nourish new fat cells is restricted.
In practice, about 50% of the transferred fat survives, sometimes only 30–40% in certain patients. It’s best to estimate roughly 50% to set realistic expectations — this is the most accurate figure.
The stability of the results in the breast area directly depends on weight stability. Most cases where patients say that the fat grafting “didn’t take” are usually either due to a small initial fat transfer — after the swelling subsides, it may seem like nothing survived — or due to patients who lost weight, in which case the volume of the transferred fat also decreases accordingly.
