Clinical Research Directory

Autologous Fresh Fat Grafting Followed by Autologous Cryopreserved Fat Grafting

The goal of this clinical trial is to validate the safety and effectiveness of a two-stage approach for minimally invasive craniofacial soft tissue reconstruction using autologous fat grafting in wounded service members and veterans. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Will treating subjects with post-traumatic craniofacial deformities using fresh fat grafts, followed by a second treatment 3 months later with cryopreserved fat stored at -80°C, improve facial tissue regeneration and appearance? 2. How do volume retention and tissue health change between fresh and cryopreserved grafts in humans? 3. How do factors such as cellular composition of the graft, patient demographics, and medical conditions (including diabetes, tobacco use, medications, age, and BMI) affect fat graft volume retention and overall outcomes? Researchers will compare results from the second-stage cryopreserved fat grafting to fresh fat grafting to assess outcomes like volume retention, patient recovery, and cost reduction. Participants will: Undergo an initial fat grafting procedure. Have additional fat harvested and cryo-stored for use in a second-stage procedure. Receive the cryopreserved fat in a later stage without the need for a second fat harvest. Receive small test injections behind each ear for later analysis. Provide data on demographics and medical conditions for correlation with outcomes.

The Role of Antibiotics in Full Thickness Skin Graft Survival for Facial Reconstructive Surgery

Antibiotics are sometimes prescribed to patients who have had reconstructive surgery of wounds on their face using skin grafts. But, it is not yet known whether antibiotics improve the healing of skin grafts and reduce the risk of infections after surgery in these patients. It is known that antibiotics, like all medications, have side-effects although these are rare. This research study is designed to show us whether antibiotics improve wound healing or not, so that we may determine if we should continue using antibiotics even if they have side-effects in some patients. Our hypothesis is that patients treated with post-operative, systemic antibiotics will demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in the survival of their facial full thickness skin grafts compared to patients who are not treated with systemic antibiotics.