Liposuction with fat grafting in one session —
hip dips and contour at ARTNER Cheongdam, Gangnam.
Fat removed from the flanks, abdomen or thighs can be washed, concentrated and placed into hip dips or other hollows in the same awake session, so one procedure both slims and fills. ARTNER Cheongdam, Gangnam performs this combination most often for hip dips, where filler is costly and temporary and the patient already has a donor area. Around 60–70% of grafted fat survives permanently; the rest is absorbed in the first three months, and the plan accounts for it.
Hip dips are the one area on the ARTNER Cheongdam site where the answer is to add, not remove — and the fat to add usually comes from an area the same patient wants smaller. Combining the two is efficient, natural and permanent in a way filler is not.
You want the flanks smaller and the hip dips filled — ideally at once.
- Your hips dip inward below the hip bone.
- You have flank, abdominal or thigh fat you would happily donate.
- Filler was quoted and the price or the repeat visits put you off.
- You want to know how much of the graft survives.
- You want one recovery, not two.
Here is how the combination is planned and performed in Cheongdam.
Why fat grafting for hip dips in Cheongdam
A hip dip is a hollow between the hip bone and the thigh bone, caused by skeletal shape and the attachment of muscle — not by fat, which is why no amount of weight loss or gain changes it predictably. The fix is volume. Body filler works but is expensive by volume, temporary and needs repeating. Your own fat, once it survives, is permanent, feels like the surrounding tissue, and comes with a free benefit: the donor area gets slimmer.
The filler comparison in full: hip dip fat graft vs filler.
Donor sites: where the fat comes from in Gangnam
| Donor area | Typical yield | Why ARTNER Cheongdam uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Flanks / love handles | 300–800 ml | Adjacent to the hips — removing it also sharpens the waist-to-hip line |
| Lower abdomen | 300–1,000 ml | Common surplus; good-quality fat |
| Outer thighs | 300–800 ml | Directly below the dip; removing it accentuates the fill |
| Inner thighs / knees | 150–400 ml | Smaller yield; used when other sites are lean |
Each hip dip typically needs 150–400 ml of processed fat. Because about a third is absorbed, the director places slightly more than the final volume required, within what the tissue can nourish.
The session, step by step in Cheongdam
Tumescent local anaesthesia with optional sedation, as for any ART-FAT case. The donor area is harvested with a gentle, low-pressure cannula to keep fat cells intact. The fat is washed, filtered and concentrated. The hip dips are then injected in many fine passes at multiple depths — small threads of fat rather than a single bolus — so each strand sits close to a blood supply and survives. The donor incisions double for access where the anatomy allows; the hips need one or two additional 3 mm entry points.
Two to three hours. You walk out in a compression garment that covers the donor area but leaves the grafted hips uncompressed.
Where the incisions go: liposuction scars — sites and healing.
Survival: what 60–70% means for planning
Grafted fat needs a blood supply. Cells placed well — thin strands, multiple layers, not overfilled — pick one up within days. Cells placed in a lump, or in an area under pressure, die and are absorbed. ARTNER Cheongdam's technique and the no-sitting rule below are aimed at pushing survival to the upper end of the 60–70% range. The result you see at three months is the result you keep; it does not fade afterward as filler does.
Where a dip is deep, the director may plan two sessions three to six months apart rather than overfill once. Overfilling lowers survival and creates lumps.
Recovery: the no-sitting rule and the rest
| Milestone | ARTNER Cheongdam guidance |
|---|---|
| Pressure on the grafted hips | Avoid direct sitting or lying on the hips for 2 weeks; side-sleep on a pillow, sit on a cushion with the hips free |
| Compression | Donor areas compressed; hips left uncompressed or very loosely covered |
| Walking | From day one, gently |
| Desk work | Day 3–5, with a cushion that offloads the hips |
| Flying home | Day 7 or later; aisle seat, cushion, walk hourly |
| Exercise | Week 4; squats and lunges from week 6 |
| Final volume | 3 months |
Aftercare in detail: hip dip fat graft aftercare.
Who it suits — and who should wait in Gangnam
Ideal: a stable weight, visible hip dips, and at least one donor area with a few hundred millilitres to spare. Less suitable: very lean patients with no donor fat — body filler is the honest alternative — and patients planning significant weight loss, because grafted fat behaves like the fat it came from and will shrink with the rest of you. ARTNER Cheongdam checks donor volume by pinch and InBody at consultation and will say plainly if there is not enough to graft.
Other combinations ARTNER Cheongdam performs
The same principle fills small contour hollows left by earlier liposuction elsewhere (see revision liposuction in Cheongdam), smooths a step between treated and untreated zones, and occasionally restores volume to the upper buttock in patients who want a rounder line without an implant. What ARTNER Cheongdam does not do is large-volume Brazilian butt lift surgery; the volumes and risks of that operation belong in a hospital setting, and we say so.
In short — Liposuction and fat grafting in one awake session at ARTNER Cheongdam, Gangnam removes fat from flanks, abdomen or thighs and places it into hip dips in fine strands, with 60–70% permanent survival. Each dip needs 150–400 ml, the hips are kept free of pressure for two weeks, and the final volume at three months is the volume you keep — a permanent, natural alternative to body filler for patients with a donor area.
Treated at ARTNER Cheongdam, Gangnam — Combined liposuction and hip dip fat grafting in Cheongdam, Gangnam is priced by donor area — flanks or outer thighs from ₩1,190,000 each — plus the fat grafting fee quoted in writing after examination of donor volume; body filler remains the alternative for lean patients. ARTNER Cheongdam is an internal-medicine-led body contouring clinic in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, at 2F–3F, 38 Apgujeong-ro 80-gil — a flat five-minute walk from Apgujeong Rodeo Station Exit 4 and 60–90 minutes from Incheon Airport. Consultations for international patients are held in English, with Chinese and Japanese support, and the KRW price list in Gangnam is identical for Korean and foreign patients. Explore hip dips and hip contouring in Cheongdam, Gangnam, body filler in Cheongdam, the Cheongdam price list or all ARTNER Cheongdam guides.
The internal-medicine specialist who makes this call in Cheongdam.
Hip dips are a skeletal shape, and the only permanent fix is volume. If the patient has a flank they want smaller, I have the volume. One session, one recovery, and nothing to repeat next year.
- Dr. Hye-woo Pyeon — Internal Medicine Specialist, Director of ARTNER Cheongdam, Gangnam
- Yeungnam University College of Medicine · Sungkyunkwan University Bioengineering
- Former Internal Medicine Specialist, Gachon University Gil Medical Center
- Member, Korean Society for the Study of Obesity & Korean Association of Internal Medicine
- Developer of the ARTNER signature protocols — ARTNER Injection · ART-FAT · ART-TUNE · ART-CELL
Lipo and fat grafting questions answered by ARTNER Cheongdam, Gangnam.
Yes. ARTNER Cheongdam harvests from flanks, abdomen or thighs and grafts to the hip dips in one awake session of two to three hours.
About 60–70% permanently. The rest is absorbed in the first three months, and the director places slightly more than the final volume needed to account for it.
Usually the flanks or outer thighs — adjacent to the hips, so removing it also sharpens the line — or the lower abdomen. Each hip dip needs 150–400 ml of processed fat.
The fat that survives the first three months is permanent and behaves like the fat it came from — it will shrink or grow with significant weight change.
Avoid direct pressure on the hips for two weeks: side-sleep, sit on a cushion that leaves the hips free, and fly from day seven with an aisle seat and hourly walks.
Body filler is the honest alternative. ARTNER Cheongdam checks donor volume by pinch and InBody and will say if there is not enough to graft.
Fat placed in fine strands at multiple depths survives evenly; lumps come from overfilling or bolus injection, which the director avoids by staging deep dips over two sessions.
No. Large-volume buttock grafting belongs in a hospital setting. ARTNER Cheongdam performs hip dip and small contour grafting only.
Send hip and flank photos —
we will plan donor and recipient together.
Message ARTNER Cheongdam, Gangnam on WhatsApp with front, side and back photos and your height and weight. An English reply within 24 hours says whether you have enough donor fat, how many sessions, and the KRW quote.
This guide is general medical information and does not replace an individual consultation. Individual results vary, and whether a treatment is appropriate is decided by an internal-medicine specialist after examination. Prices are in KRW, exclude VAT and follow the published price list. ARTNER Cheongdam · 2F–3F, 38 Apgujeong-ro 80-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul · 5 min from Apgujeong Rodeo Station Exit 4 · Contact & directions · All Cheongdam guides