The Role of Autologous Fat Grafting in the Treatment of Atrophic Post-Acne Scars: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Numerous techniques have been tried to treat acne scarring. Given its filling properties and the presence of adipose tissue-derived stem cells, autologous fat has been tried for treating acne scars in multiple studies, either alone or combined with other treatment approaches. This review focuses on autologous fat grafting in its different forms, including nanofat and stromal vascular fraction, as an efficient and safe modality for treating acne scars. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were used to search for relevant studies published from January 2017 to December 2022. We used a combination of the following keywords: “acne scar,” “acne scars,” “autologous fat transplantation,” “autologous fat grafting,” “fat grafting for acne scars,” “stromal vascular fraction,” “SVF,” and “nanofat.” Twelve studies were found utilizing autologous fat grafting in different forms, either used alone or combined with other treatment methods such as lasers and platelet-rich plasma for treating atrophic post-acne scars. Most studies showed that autologous fat grafting effectively treated acne scars with satisfying results.