Vascular Age as a Predictor of Side Effects After Facial Lipofilling.

BACKGROUND: Vascular age (VA) represents chronological age adjusted for an individual's atherosclerotic burden. Keeping in mind the fact that facial vascularization could influence the success of esthetic interventions, we aimed to investigate the predictive value of VA in development of side effects following facial lipofilling.

METHODS: In the period from October 1, 2014, to October 1, 2015, 106 consecutive subjects who underwent a facial lipofilling were included in the study. The VA was calculated using two approaches: Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) project equations and means of vascular parameters assessed by color duplex sonographic examinations. The data regarding facial lipofilling-related complications (pain, edema and/or hematoma) have been collected during the regular checkups over 2 weeks after intervention.

RESULTS: The average chronological age of the participants was 50.9 ± 9.4 years. Estimation of VA using vascular sonographic parameters revealed the value of 45.4 ± 29.1 years, whereas the assessment of VA using SCORE equations showed that the mean age was 53.7 ± 12.7 (p = 0.006). The total frequency of these complications was as follows: 6.6% for hematoma, 15.1% for edema (13.2% mild edema and 1.9% severe edema) and 20.8% for local facial pain (17.0% mild pain and 3.8% severe pain). The multivariate logistic regression models showed that VA had statistically significant (p < 0.01) independent prognostic value for facial lipofilling-related appearance of hematoma and pain.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study revealed that advanced VA has an independent predictive role in the appearance of complications following facial plastic surgery.

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