RESUMO
BACKGROUND: In body contouring surgery, some regions, such as the abdomen, thorax, upper limbs, and glutes, are prioritized over others, including the lower limbs, particularly the anterior thighs. This study aimed to identify anterior thigh preferences by age, sex, ethnicity, and region and assess their importance as a factor of female beauty by conducting an online survey. METHODS: Photographs of a 24-year-old female model were modified in two front-view and side-view panels. Through a survey on the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform, participants were asked to order the images from the most beautiful to the least beautiful, and the results were broken down by age, sex, ethnicity, and region. RESULTS: A total of 1000 respondents were surveyed, all of whom answered the survey without error; therefore, no one was excluded. Of the 1000 respondents, 504 were men (50.4%) and 496 were women (49.6%). The predominant age group was 26-35 years, with 443 people (44.3%), the region with the highest number of participants was North America, with 484 respondents (48.4%), and the predominant ethnicity was White, with 555 respondents (55.5%). The survey showed that the most beautiful images were image A on the side-view panel (25.9%) and image I on the front-view panel (28.5%)(P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In the side view, the aesthetic preferences of the anterior thigh do not appear to be associated with the anterior projection. However, in the front view, the increase in width generates a beauty trend, but only up to an intermediate level, quantified in the ratio (0.44).
RESUMO
Volumizing muscles in the thighs by fat grafting to complement body contouring surgeries has not been adequately investigated. Our objective was to describe a technique (VDVFAT) that defines and volumizes thigh muscles by lipotransfer in the vastus medialis and vastus lateralis muscles. METHODS: VDVFAT was performed in 52 patients by the same surgeon at a private clinic in Lima, Peru, between 2018 and 2019. All patients were aged between 18 and 60 years, had no cutaneous flaccidity of the thighs, had a body mass index less than 28, and had Goldman surgical risk below Class II. RESULTS: A total of 45 women aged 19-41 years (mean: 29.2 years) and seven men aged 24-41 years (mean: 33 years) were included. A mean of 173.36 cm3 of intramuscular fat was grafted to the vastus lateralis, resulting in increased muscle thickness of 21.09 mm, which is equivalent to 88.31% of the initial size of the muscle (P < 0.0001). An intramuscular fat mass of 123.53 cm3 was grafted into the vastus medialis, resulting in increased muscle thickness of 30 mm, which is equivalent to 87.02% of the initial size of the muscle (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Volumizing and defining the vastus muscles by fat transfer is a safe and reproducible method for defining and volumizing muscles. However, further studies are necessary to determine the durability of fat grafts.