With people getting everything from salmon sperm to plasma injected into their faces in the name of beauty, it is difficult to be surprised when new, even seemingly extreme methods to achieve youthfulness are promoted.

But Dr David Sparks, a specialist plastic surgeon based in Queensland, was alarmed when he heard patients were asking about cadaver fillers, a trend being promoted on social media as “zombie filler”.

“This is being presented as an established procedure, when the human clinical data is still very early,” he said.

What is zombie filler?

Fat injections, or lipofilling, is a known cosmetic procedure that involves taking fat from the patient’s own body and injecting it into the same patient’s face to add plumpness and reduce wrinkles.

But in order to be less invasive and reduce recovery time and scarring from fat removal, some cosmetic and plastic surgeons in the US are using donor adipose (fat) tissue from dead bodies.

Despite some Australians asking about the procedure in online forums and at appointments with specialist doctors, Sparks says the service isn’t approved in Australia. “The clinical evidence is still early stage, and it simply isn’t something that can be legitimately offered here yet,” he says.

“Neither AlloClae nor Renuva, the two products available in the United States, are listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. There’s no Therapeutic Goods........

© The Guardian