This was part of the recent Plastic Surgery publication. The study is a PSF Research Grant Award winner, Dr. Orgill out of Harvard.
He was looking at “external volume expansion.” This is a way of talking about BRAVA without using the BRAVA name explicitly. A big question has been what does BRAVA do? I am convinced you need to stretch the tissues to give space for the fat to be transferred into, otherwise the pressure of the overlying skin will kill the fat. The other question is does the BRAVA do anything else to help (or hinder) fat grafting?
What they found:
- These devices cause temporary swelling in the tissue. They think the swelling can stimulate fat formation
- They cause temporary hypoxia (low oxygen state) which stimulates new blood vessels to form
- They think applying the forces in a “cyclic manner” will allow higher force levels without damaging the skin
- Cyclical forces also may be a better way to stimulate blood vessels
They will continue their studies to scientifically look at the best way to optimize these devices.
For now, looks like science is supporting the use of BRAVA. So for all of my patients who have not liked the whole wearing of the BRAVA, know it was for a good cause.