(Image source: Plurielles)


BY RICHARD LAYCOCK

ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

You're watching multisource health video news analysis from Newsy.

Call it a fat freezing facility. Florida plastic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Hartog is the creator of "Liquid Gold" -- a place where patients can freeze their liposuctioned fat. The Huffington Post explains.

“Some patients opt to have fat injected into other body parts to plump them up. If using fat from their own body, doctors usually have an hour to make the transfer. Enter: Liquid Gold...Hartog's center will deep freeze the fat after it's been harvested.”

Hartog says the freezing and banking process will extend the life of your fat --  but, as time is money, the storage is not cheap. A blogger for the Sun-Sentinel says,

“Here's the skinny: Storage will cost $900 for the first year and $200 a year after that to warehouse enough fat to fill a coffee cup.”

While Dr. Hartog has had plenty of interest in "Liquid Gold," other professionals in his field are concerned. An associate professor of plastic surgery at Georgetown University, Dr Stephen Baker, is quoted by the Daily Mail saying,

“No good data exists to substantiate the fact that frozen fat does well or is metabolically viable … Even in the best-run tissue banks, which require multiple layers of tissue identification, humans make mistakes. If a patient gets the wrong fat injected, the results could be serious...”

A plastic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital  is also concerned-- according to the Orlando Sentinel.

“Animal data shows that frozen fat doesn't hold up as well as fresh fat … [It’s] a logistical nightmare. There are better solutions ... You only need 30 to 50 cc's for a facial procedure. You can always find that somewhere on a woman's body. And that's the best bank of all.”

While Dr. Hartog’s patented ‘Liquid Gold’ bank is the first of its kind in Florida, a similar procedure has been available in London for nearly a year.


Transcript by Newsy.