Calculating the Thickness of the Superficial Fatty Layer of the Body Using Age, Gender, and Body Mass Index

BMI) can result in skin surface irregularities.

Understanding and respecting this delicate subdermal architecture may increase the efficacy and the longevity of biostimulator treatment. Biostimulators have been shown to induce collagen synthesis via various pathways.1 Ultimately, those pathways result in an increased content of collagen within the adjacent connective tissues. If the targeted tissue is the superficial fascial system, effects on the skin could be expected including reduction in skin laxity and surface irregularities. Newly formed collagen could result in an increased amount and/or increased thickness of the connective tissue fibers that connect the skin to the superficial fascia. Being anchored to the superficial fascia, the alteration in conformation and/or tension of those septae could reduce skin laxity by bringing the skin closer to the superficial fascia. In dimple-type cellulite, the increase in collagen content in the superficial fascial system could lead to an increase in containment forces that stabilize the skin around depressions. As dimples are the result of soft tissue protrusion next to the subdermal attachment of vascularized “super-septae”, injecting biostimulators around areas with dimples can reduce the difference in skin level between the bottom of the dimple (original skin level) and the wall around the dimple (protruded skin level). This stabilization effect can be induced by the injection of biostimulators especially if the superficial fascial system is targeted.

The present study provides a mathematical formula to compute the thickness of the superficial fatty layer, which is an integral part of the superficial fascial system. With this formula, the maximal depth of biostimulator injections can be estimated if the age, gender, and the BMI of the patient are known. The result of the calculated region-specific formula can guide aesthetic providers towards more effective treatments as the output is the maximal depth of biostimulator injections targeting the superficial fascial system. Injections deeper than the calculated value (results are in millimeters) might result in a reduced efficacy as the superficial fascial system is not targeted and the induced neocollagenesis does not impact the fibrous connective tissue septae that connect the skin to the superficial fascia.

The results of the present study reveal that the thickness of the superficial fatty layer is highly variable in the human body as it depends on the investigated region, age, gender, and BMI. The superficial fatty layer is an integral component of the superficial fascial system which influences skin laxity and skin surface irregularities. The result of the calculated region-specific formula can guide aesthetic providers towards more effective treatments as the output is the maximal depth of biostimulator injections whereby the superficial fascial system is targeted. Injections deeper than the calculated values might result in a reduced effectiveness as the superficial fascial system is not targeted and the induced collagen formation does not affect the fibrous connective tissue septae and thus ultimately the skin surface.

None of the other authors listed has any commercial associations or financial disclosures that might pose or create a conflict of interest with the methods applied or the results presented in this article. Funding: This study received funding by Merz North America, Inc., Raleigh, NC, USA (Grant Nr.: 02092018) and by Q-Med Galderma, Uppsala, Sweden (Grant Nr.: 07172019) for statistical financial support for the generation of the formula.