Brazilian Buttock Lift

Buttock Augmentation via Fat Transfer

With curvy, shapely buttocks in fashion, cosmetic surgeries designed to enhance the appearance of the buttocks have been growing in popularity. For some time, the industry standard was to use artificial buttock implants — much like the silicone implants used in breast augmentation, but designed to add volume and symmetry to the backside. However, this option has proved imperfect over the years. For one, buttock implants often served only to make the buttocks bigger without providing natural contours. Additionally, buttock implants need to be replaced after a number of years, and the surgery itself comes with several possible complications.

While buttock implants remain an option, butt augmentation through fat transfer has rapidly been replacing implants as many surgeons’ go-to method. The fat transfer approach is popularly called a Brazilian butt lift, sometimes shortened to BBL. It offers more permanent results, and usually provides a faster recovery and a more naturally shapely backside. Fat injections are often recommended for those trying to achieve a perkier backside but who don’t necessarily want to drastically increase the size of the buttocks. The fat transfer method reshapes rather than enlargers the rear, which allows for precise buttock shaping that accentuates the butt, waist and thighs and complements each patient’s body type. The Brazilian butt lift procedure is the only FDA-approved method of butt injection. The demand for this surgery has skyrocketed over the past few years as word has spread about its efficacy as an alternative to butt implants.

If you are interested in learning more about butt augmentation via fat injection, the expert team at the Cosmetic Surgery and Laser Centers of El Paso can answer your questions. Our board-certified plastic surgeons, Dr. Reynolds and Dr. Jabor, are highly experienced in providing a complete range of cosmetic surgeries and procedures. We can work with you to determine if a Brazilian butt lift is right for you. Contact us today to schedule your consultation.

What Is a Brazilian Butt Lift (Butt Augmentation Through Fat Transfer)?

A Brazilian butt lift is a method of enlarging or enhancing the shape of the buttocks using fat injections. In this procedure, fat is extracted from elsewhere on the patient’s body via liposuction and injected into the buttocks to enhance its shape and increase its volume.

Benefits of a Brazilian Butt Lift

The fat transfer approach is popularly called a Brazilian butt lift, sometimes shortened to BBL. It offers more permanent results and usually provides a faster recovery and a more naturally shapely backside. Fat injections are often recommended for those trying to achieve a perkier backside but who don’t necessarily want to drastically increase the size of the buttocks. The fat transfer method reshapes rather than enlarges the rear, which allows for precise buttock shaping that accentuates the butt, waist and thighs and complements each patient’s body type.

The Brazilian butt lift procedure is the only FDA-approved method of butt injection. The demand for this surgery has skyrocketed over the past few years as word has spread about its efficacy as an alternative to butt implants.

Brazilian Butt Lifts Are Performed Using Three Main Steps:

1. Extract body fat and sculpt the area.

Body fat is taken from a donor site on the patient’s body using minimally invasive liposuction techniques. The donor site is selected based on where the patient has excess body fat. It is typically also an area where the excess fat is unwanted, such as the abdomen, hips or back. This has the added benefit of sculpting other areas of the body for ideally contoured results.

Your surgeon may also use liposuction to sculpt the buttocks in preparation for fat injections.

2. Purify the extracted fat.

The fat is processed and cleaned using a specialized technique that separates all other substances and tissues from the individual fat cells. Fat purification ensures no excess fluid or other types of cells are in the fat injected back into the body. In turn, this lowers the risks of complications and minimizes the amount of fat the body absorbs and eliminates after injection.

3. Inject the fat.

Once the fat has been cleaned, it is inserted into a syringe with a cannula tip and injected into predetermined sites on the buttocks. The cannula is kept in motion to ensure even distribution of fat throughout each area.

Injection placement is designed to enhance the shape of the buttocks, which may include one or more of the following goals:

• Adding volume in certain areas
• Creating symmetry between left and right buttocks
• Giving a rounder appearance overall
• Providing definition where the buttocks meet the thighs

The number of injections will depend on the client’s needs and goals as well as how much fat your surgeon was able to harvest safely. Injections are placed at various depths in the fat layer to ensure the best absorption rate.

Learn More About BBL Surgery in El Paso

If you are interested in learning more about butt augmentation via fat injection, the expert team at the Cosmetic Surgery and Laser Centers of El Paso can answer your questions. Our board-certified plastic surgeons, Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Jabor and Dr. Aburto, are highly experienced in providing a complete range of cosmetic surgeries and procedures. We can work with you to determine if a Brazilian butt lift is right for you.

Contact us today to schedule your consultation.

Brazilian Butt Lift Recovery Process

When Can I Go Home After My BBL?

Patients are free to return home the same day as their Brazilian butt lift, but they must carefully follow our surgeons’ recovery instructions to ensure natural, even and long-lasting results.

How Soon Can I Sit After a BBL?

The Brazilian butt lift recovery process is relatively quick — only two to three weeks total — but can be challenging, as patients are unable to put pressure on their buttocks while they heal during this time. Sitting down or laying on your back too soon after fat transfer can affect your final buttock shape, potentially causing too much fat absorption or causing fat to be pushed out of the injection area.

Our surgeons will provide a thorough set of recommendations and instructions for staying comfortable without putting your results at risk.

Is BBL Recovery Painful?

Since the procedure is minimally invasive, healing is usually quick with only dissolvable sutures or light bandaging and very little visible scarring. However, you will experience some soreness, swelling and bruising, particularly around the areas where you had liposuction and at the injection sites. Your surgeon may give you a compression garment to help with swelling — this should only be worn in the areas with liposuction and not over the buttocks.

How Much Downtime Is Needed After My BBL?

Most patients require between one and two weeks away from work and normal daily activities. Light exercise should be avoided for about four weeks, and strenuous exercise and fat-burning activities can be resumed after six to eight weeks.

You will have regular follow-up appointments scheduled with your surgeon to ensure that you are healing as planned and that your results will meet — and exceed! — your expectations.

Brazilian Butt Lift Results

How Long Does It Take to See Results From a BBL?

You will likely notice your fuller, rounder buttocks immediately after surgery, but the final contours will be camouflaged by bruising, swelling and additional fat transferred. You will see your more permanent results one to two weeks after your procedure, but your final results will take a couple of months to become apparent.

How Long Does It Take for Fat to Settle After a BBL?

With any fat transfer procedure, some of the transferred fat (about 20 to 40 percent) will not attach to the blood supply in the new area. These fat cells will die and be naturally removed from the body over a month or two. The fat that does survive will take about a month to attach and settle into place, and it will remain there permanently. This is why it can take four to eight weeks to see your final BBL results.

How Do You Maintain BBL Results?

As with most plastic surgery procedures, maintaining a healthy weight and following a healthy diet and exercise regimen can help prolong the results of your Brazilian butt lift. Your plastic surgeon will also provide you with more detailed instructions on how to maintain the best Brazilian butt lift results.
Will I Have Scarring After a Brazilian Butt Lift?
Liposuction involves a series of small incisions in the harvest site, but these incisions are generally short enough to heal without noticeable scarring. The fat transfer portion of the procedure uses even smaller incisions for injecting the fat into the buttocks, which also typically heal well and are not visible.

By keeping your incisions out of the sun and using sunscreen when that’s not possible, they will heal better and be less noticeable. All scars will fade over time, and most patients say if they do experience minimal scarring, it is worth it for their BBL results.

Am I a Candidate for a Brazilian Butt Lift?

Brazilian butt lifts can be performed on patients of many ages, on both women and men and on patients with a variety of body types. The ideal candidate is in overall good health, is a non-smoker, has realistic aesthetic goals and has one or more donor sites on their body with enough fat for extraction.

During your consultation, your surgeon will discuss a variety of topics that will factor into your candidacy for a Brazilian butt lift, including but not limited to the following:

• Your medical history
• Your lifestyle
• Your aesthetic goals for your buttocks
• Any other aesthetic goals
• Your history of cosmetic procedures

If you are not a candidate for a Brazilian butt lift at this time, your surgeon can inform you of your options. You may be a better candidate for butt augmentation with implants. Some patients need to gain or lose weight before they are eligible for buttock fat transfer. Others may need to address a different health issue first or create a time in their schedule that will make sense for recovery. In addition, we can help you understand your other body sculpting options and discuss different procedures that may be able to accomplish your aesthetic goals.

Can I Combine My Brazilian Butt Lift With Another Plastic Surgery Procedure?

Yes, patients commonly combine their Brazilian but lift surgery with other body contouring procedures. While liposuction is already involved in the procedure, patients may wish to target additional areas for more slender contours in areas besides just the donor location for their BBL. Abdominal etching is an option that removes fat strategically while leaving the fat over your muscles to enhance the appearance of muscle definition, such as six-pack abs. Neither liposuction nor a Brazilian butt lift can address cellulite, so you can combine Cellfina cellulite treatment with your BBL to achieve smooth thighs.

At your consultation, we will review all of your aesthetic concerns and help determine whether a combination procedure might be right for you.

Why Choose a Brazilian Butt Lift Over Implants?

While implants and fat transfer are both options for butt augmentation in El Paso, there are several notable differences to consider before undergoing either surgery. Recovery from a Brazilian butt lift procedure is often quicker than recovery from buttock implants. In fact, patients are often able to return to full activities within a few weeks. The butt also feels softer in comparison, where implants tend to feel like tightened muscle.

Butt Implant Material:

Implants are made of solid silicone that is usually inserted below the muscle in the buttocks. Although this material is safe, it will feel notably different than the fat transfer method, which uses the patient’s own fat and has a completely natural texture.

Recovery Period:

Butt implants have a significantly longer recovery period than Brazilian butt lift procedures. The average healing period for silicone butt implants is about four to six weeks, whereas fat transfer recovery time is about two to three weeks total.

Overall Appearance:

Because the Brazilian butt lift procedure uses your own fat tissue and because the doctor uses liposuction to shape the buttocks, the end result generally appears more natural.

Chances of Side Effects or Infection:

Because implants involve inserting a foreign object into the body, there’s always the chance that your body could reject the implant or that the implant could become displaced by the movement of your muscles. This also increases the risk for possible infection.

Take the Next Step Toward a Beautiful Backside

Butt augmentation via fat transfer is ideal for less scarring, lower chance of infection and complications, shorter recovery time and more natural-looking and natural-feeling buttocks. At the Cosmetic Surgery and Laser Centers of El Paso, Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Jabor and Dr. Aburto are dedicated to offering our patients the very best quality of care and are specialized in providing Brazilian butt lifts with exceptional results.

If you are interested in enhancing the shape, size or overall appearance of your buttocks in the El Paso, Texas area, please contact us to schedule a personalized consultation today. Call us at (915) 543-5600, or fill in our online form and our team will get back to you right away.