The Big Interview

Created on 10th September 2009

Cosmetic Surgery & Aesthetics Magazine interviews top cosmetic doctor and founder of the FAMI procedure Dr Roger Amar 

What inspired you to pioneer the FAMI technique?

After more than 20 years practicing my speciality of plastic and reconstructive surgery in France in the early nineties I was looking for the perfect filler to treat any negative side-effects resulting in facelifts and blepharoplasties. These operations, even in the best hands, can result in imperfections that need to be treated.

The perfect filler was found in autologous tissues, the fat transplants from the patient themselves post liposuction. Sometimes fat transfer would have poor results; lumps, unpredictability in effect and how long it would last.

I had to find what it was inside the fat which made the lipo-filling so unpredictable. One of my first steps was to purify lipoaspirates and isolate the mesenchymal stem cells after destruction of the fat lobules. In 1997 I grafted a frontal bone defect and got an amazingly successful result.

After that the successes never stopped. In February 2001 I began to teach surgeons in the US and operated on more than 50 patients in different US states. The patients were satisfied and no complications were noted. It was for me the ultimate mark of success for a very new procedure.

Was it difficult to master?

The start of the FAMI procedure is very technical, based on functional anatomy. It is difficult to analyze the face to understand what muscle, bone or fat pads are behind an aged face. The anatomical knowledge is not based on illustrations from anatomical books but from dozens of cadaver dissections and the practice of injections with specially developed FAMI instruments.

This knowledge and skill makes FAMI the safest injection procedure.

Why is it so successful?

FAMI is a pan-facial restoration. That means with the FAMI technique one can rejuvenate bones, the shape of muscles and fat pads.

There is also no lasting edema, little bruising and the patient goes home after the three-hour procedure There is also no fear of overcorrection; what you see in the operating room during intervention is what you'll get later. Also no lumpy outcome, no asymmetry, no scars; the injections are very precise and scientifically recorded.

FAMI is a procedure with no immediate touch up although a secondary FAMI is optional in very thin patients.

Do you carry out other procedures or do you focus solely on FAMI?

I also perform a wide range of plastic surgery procedures such as breast surgery, rhinoplasty, facelifts, blepharoplasty and liposuction.

Often I find that the FAMI procedure can replace other surgical procedures but, in extreme cases, there is often the need to perform a traditional facelift to achieve the necessary results. However, I will always combine a facelift with the FAMI procedure, performed on a separate occasion, to improve the results of the facelift. FAMI will add the volume that is lost during a facelift and gives a really natural result.

What do you enjoy most about your job? Is it spreading the word of FAMI or is it treating patients in your own practice?

Treating patients with a very efficient procedure is a dream for most surgeons and if you can teach and spread the word worldwide it is even better.

What is the most important thing you've learned from your patients?

During my professional life I have learnt from women to never give up after an unsuccessful result. From time to time female patients have come for consultations after having had a procedure with another surgeon. They have been treated with conservative techniques, safe for the surgeon, but leaving the patient with an unfavourable result.

Each time that female patient has spurred me on to find a new treatment and proposed herself as a model to be the first to try it. I admire this attitude which motivates me to study more in order to continually improve the methods we use in reconstructive cases and in aesthetic procedures as well.