October 25, 2011
School of Dentistry, Kochi
 

Dr. Alice Kurian, postgraduate student at the Amrita School of Dentistry, was recently honored with the best paper award at the conference of the Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons of India, Kerala Chapter, organized at Kollam.
 

Her paper titled Fat Facial for a Fabulous Face outlined important aspects of facial fat injections.
 

Such injections are used when facial disfigurations result from soft tissue injuries or loss in accidents or after the healing of facial lesions.
 

“Since facial appearance is significant in the cosmesis i.e. the restoration of bodily beauty, patients often approach maxillofacial surgeons for getting pleasing and youthful facial aesthetics,” outlined Dr. Alice.
 

In past decades, various graft materials were used to augment and restore areas of the face with volume loss or contour irregularities. These included metals like gold and silver, as well as paraffin and rubber and even newer products such as Goretex and Restylane.
 

One material recently popularized for soft tissue augmentation is the patient’s own fat.
 

“In facial fat injections, excess fat which is accumulated in patient’s own body in places like the tummy, thighs and knees is utilized to correct the defects and re-contour the face. Fat harvested from these sites is used to fill areas with soft-tissue volume loss on the face,” explained Dr. Alice.
 

Her paper also provided insights into possible complications and modalities of management. Biocompatibility is certain since the fat is from the same person’s body, but the procedure itself is highly technique-sensitive.
 

“The resorption rate of the fat graft is unpredictable,” cautioned the author. “Very gentle and careful manipulation of tissue is needed for success.”
 

An achiever throughout her academic career, Dr. Alice is currently pursuing postgraduation in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Amrita. She joined Amrita as a lecturer after completing her graduation from Calicut University, obtaining the first rank. She was also the topper in the M.Sc. (Medical Informatics) batch in Amrita Viswa Vidyapeetham.
 

Acknowledging support received from both the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and the Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Dr. Alice expressed her deep gratitude to her mentors including Drs. Sudha L., Ravi V., Sherry Peter, Usha S., Latha P. Rao, Mathew Mampilly, Subramania Iyer, Sundeep Vijayaraghavan and Deepak B.
 

“My experience as a student and teacher at Amrita has positively modified my outlook about quality research,” she summarized.
 

We congratulate Dr. Alice on her latest achievement!