Treatment of Hip Dips with Fat Transfer

In pursuit of the best body contour, women often desire correction of hip dips, also described as hip dents, hip divots, or violin hips. The hip dip is a normal contour depression of the hip, located between the love-handles and the outer thighs, anatomically known as the trochanteric depression. It is normal for this region to be flat, because there is essentially no muscle located here, so exercise cannot improve the depression. Some women are genetically predispositioned to store more fat in this region, creating a more smooth (convex) contour, and this can be desirable, because it appears more feminine.

The appearance of hip dips can be accentuated with weight gain, because added fat deposition along the flanks (love-handles) makes the flanks protrude more than the hip. Performing liposuction of the regions above and below the depression (ie, the flanks or love-handles, and the outer thighs) certainly improves overall silhouette, because the depression appears less severe. Additionally, fat transfer to this region can improve the overall contour, and drastically improve the hip dent. Unfortunately, only a small volume of fat can be injected directly into this region, because it is so thin. Furthermore, since there is no muscle, a small percentage of fat survives. Hence, fat injection is also added progressively more posteriorly (toward the back) allowing added volume restoration by injecting into a larger more distensible region, and also into the gluteus medius muscle. This is why successful correction of the hip dip involves not only fat transfer, but also liposuction of the region above (flanks), and possibly the region below (outer thighs).