London’s Leading Buttock Lift Clinic Â
Brazilian butt lift otherwise known as buttock augmentation or BBL treatment is a cosmetic surgery which enhances the volume of the buttock and allows the crafting of the desirable shape of the buttocks via a method called lipo-sculpture.
The term Brazilian Butt Lift originates from its popularity in the beachgoers of South America.
Not everyone is born with a round, full buttock, which is why experienced plastic surgeons are offering a number of options to help patients attain the curvy buttock which they desire.
There are few ways to add volume and enhance the shape to the buttocks:
- Brazilian Butt Lift
- Sculptra Butt Lift
- Lanluma Butt Lift
- Filler Buttocks Enhancement
- Implants Buttocks Enhancement
At the London Medical and Aesthetic Clinic, we offer patients all types of buttock lift treatments including the Brazilian Butt Lift option. The aim of buttock lift treatment is to give a natural lift and leaves no scarring. The surgeon gives a naturally enhanced look rather than completely altering the buttock shape. This ensures the buttock is not over filled or ‘fake’ looking.
The choice of the butt lift method is determined by the patient goals and personal anatomy. All options will be discussed with the surgeon at the time of the consultation. The end results should be a firmer, fuller, aesthetically proportionate figure that allows the patient to feel happy about their shape and contour.
Brazilian Butt Lift Suitability
A Brazilian Butt Lift is an option to create a more shapely buttocks by transferring fat from areas such as the stomach to the buttocks and hips.
Loss of buttock fat due to ageing, or significant weight loss, may result in flatter buttocks. Fat grafting, also called lipo-filling, can add curvature to the buttock region providing the appearance of fuller buttocks.
The augmentation of the buttocks can be achieved by harvesting the patient’s own body fat and injected back into the buttocks.
Generally, everyone is suitable for fat transfer but it doesn’t work well if the patient smokes and is less successful if they have smoked in the last few months.
With fat transfer, it isn’t entirely predictable how much fat will survive the first time so we always advise patients that they may need more than one treatment, particularly if they are looking for a much enhanced look.
During the consultation with the surgeon, the patient should discuss the best options to achieve the desired outcome.
Advantages of Brazilian Butt Lift
There are very good reasons behind the popularity of Brazilian butt lifts. Some of these include:
- Patients will see a significant difference immediately after surgery
- Effective treatment for patients desiring a fuller, shapelier buttock
- The results are subtle, with a natural-looking curve and a more pronounced shape
- Patient’s own fat is used to be removed from other parts of the body which will be injected back into the buttocks
- More natural looking results compared to other enhancement methods such as lipo injection with dermal fillers or gluteal implants.
- The potential risks are also lower than buttocks implants surgery
- The process is gentler than traditional methods such as gluteal-implant surgery
- The recovery period is usually shorter than traditional Buttocks implant surgery
Another benefit to Brazilian butt lifts is that there is a lower risk of infection compared to silicone buttock implants. It does have a better safety profile than other substances, such as silicone caulking and sealants implants.
Brazilian Buttock Lift Procedure
Fat Grafting or fat transfer to buttocks should give a natural, subtle curve to the buttocks. It is achieved through combination of minimally-invasive liposuction and the transfer of fat cells to the buttock.
A Brazilian butt lift consists of fat grafting that is notable for its natural-looking results. The procedure is usually performed under general anaesthesia, but in procedures where a smaller volume of fat is transferred, it may be done with only local anaesthesia.
It involves reshaping treatment around the saddlebags and lower back and transferring the fat back to the lower body – around your gluteus maximus muscle. Fat is initially extracted through either Body-jet lipo or Micro liposuction from a patient’s chosen area. Common examples are the flanks, abdomen or thighs.
The Brazilian but lift procedure involves few steps:
Fat Collection Process
The surgeon then uses liposuction to remove fat from other areas of the body, such as hips, stomach, and thighs. Liposuction itself involves making incisions in the skin, and then using a special fat transfer syringes, the fat is generally taken from the stomach, flanks, hips, and thighs using a fine vibrating cannula which is less invasive and better protects the living fat cells
This autologous fat harvested with the help of a small cannula is then carefully processed and refined in a sterile device to protect the fat cells. This maximizes their chances of survival before they are refined and injected into the buttocks.
The surgeon takes the donor fat from the abdomen, thighs and upper and outer buttock areas to produce a lifted and more curvaceous shape.
As the amount of donor fat required is substantial (700cc or more, i.e. 500g of fat), the procedure is not suitable for those with low levels of body fat.
Fat Filtering
The fat is filtered moved from donor to recipient site (usually from the stomach to the buttocks) through a closed system called Lipivage which protects the fat from contamination and lowers damage to the fat cells to ensure better fat survival.
To ensure the highest rate of fat survival, the surgeon usually uses a Lipivage or Puregraft system of fat processing and purification. With Lipivage fat transfer graft, viscosity is more consistent and free of contaminants, allowing a precise result.
These methods are superior to gravity separation, and fractional centrifugation which can destroy fat in filtering out blood, free lipids and excess fluid.
The fat stores that have been removed from the body are purified and readied for injection into the buttocks.
Fat Injection
The surgeon finishes by injecting the processed fat into specific areas of the buttocks to create a more rounded, full look. They make three to five incisions around the buttocks for fat transfers.
Fat particles are then injected into the buttock layers through small incisions on each side. Fat droplets are smoothed through muscle layers so the fat cells gain a good blood supply ensuring the best chance for survival.
A layering technique will create smooth, more rounded buttock without irregularities, giving a significant but natural increase in buttock volume.
Since the fat cells used to enhance the volume of the buttocks are patient’s own cells, this surgical contouring method greatly reduces the chance of complications. It is important to know that some percentage of the injected fat will disappear. The exact amount varies from patient to another.
Both liposuction and fat transfer incisions are closed up with stitches. The surgeon then applies a compression garment against the affected areas of skin to minimize the risk of bleeding.
Brazilian Buttock Lift Results
Individual results may vary from patient to patient; however, the amount of fat transferred to each buttock averages about 300 to 350 cc of fat after filtering out impurities.
The majority of patients require only one session, however, some patients might need 2-3 treatments for the buttock area to see a significant enhancement and definition as every patient is very individual and depending on the results the patient desires to achieve.
Most of the patients can achieve a 50 up to 80 percent increase in size and definition, and this is dependent on the individual patient’s needs. Although results will be seen immediately, optimal results are seen after the course of recommended treatments have been completed.
Fat grafting can be enhanced by using Platelets and growth factors from the patient’s own blood in the form of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) which may improve fat cell healing and survival.
For those patients that do have sufficient body fat, the fat transfer method may be the best option for adding volume to the buttocks. In the absence of sufficient fat, buttock implants, Sculptra Butt lift or buttock injections may be more suitable options.
Brazilian Butt Lift Safety
Brazilian butt lift techniques have improved over time, so that fat survival rates of 80% are now possible when using the most advanced fat filtration and fat grafting techniques. Individual results will vary from patient to another.
A Brazilian butt lift may carry fewer risks compared to other buttock surgeries, such as silicone buttock implants.
Still, as with any surgery, this procedure carries the risk of side rare effects, which include:
Infection, scarring, post-operative pain, lumps under the skin in the areas suctioned or injected, loss of skin in the treated areas due to deep infection, fat embolism in the heart or lungs, nausea and vomiting from the general anaesthesia.
Another known side effect is the failure of the buttocks to take up the grafted fat stores. A certain amount of the fat injected is broken down and absorbed by the body. Sometimes the patient may need an additional one or two procedures.
Over the last few years, there have been reports in the media of patients having sometimes fatal complications after treatment. The cause of this is due to the way the treatment is carried out. Some surgeons will inject fat into the fat of the buttock and also the muscle. This allows more fat to be transferred in one stage and a much more enhanced final shape after one treatment. However, injecting the fat into the muscle is dangerous as fat injected into a large blood vessel in the muscle can prove fatal.
Patient Expectations
It’s imperative that patients understand the scientific mechanism of the Brazilian butt lift prior to treatment.
Once a patient is happy with the buttock volumisation achieved, results can be expected to last 2-5 years. To maintain this desired effect, touch-up procedures might be advised for certain individual.
It is difficult to predict how much of the transferred fat will survive as this varies from patient to another. If necessary, fat can be taken from several locations, including the upper and lower abdomen, the sides (flanks), the lower back, the arms and upper thighs.
Non-smoking patients have longer lasting results, as smoking reduces the blood supply to the skin and dehydrates the skin. It is recommended that patients give up smoking at least six weeks before surgery, eat a healthy balanced diet and be in optimal health before surgery.
Patients who are concerned that they may have insufficient fat to transfer to the buttocks are advised not to try to gain additional fat before the surgery.
Brazilian Butt Lift – BBL FAQS
It is common for patients to have questions about the medical treatments, and at the London Medical and Aesthetic Clinic it is important to us that all our patients feel confident, knowledgeable and comfortable at every stage of their journey of their treatments at our clinic.
To help our patients to find the answers they need, here are a few of the most common questions which are frequently asked:
What is Brazilian butt lift?
Brazilian buttock lifts are better known as “fat transfer” with grafting. With a fat transfer procedure, the surgeon takes fat from the stomach area and then surgically adds it to the buttocks to create the “lifting” effect.
In some cases, the surgeon may recommend a Brazilian buttock lift in conjunction with silicone implants.
Who is a good candidate for a Brazilian butt lift?
Patients who lost the natural shape of the buttocks due to age or weight fluctuations. Patients who don’t feel comfortable in their clothes.
Patients who have enough fat stores in their hips and other areas for grafting. Patients who are non-smoker, at a healthy weight and a healthy lifestyle overall, which includes regular exercise and patients who haven’t had any recent infections or complications related to surgery.
How does Brazilian butt lift work?
A far more popular way to improve the shape of the buttocks is to remove fat from one area of the body and move this to the buttocks. It has numerous advantages in that once the result has healed, it feels natural and is permanent.
The procedure includes liposuction of fat from somewhere on the body where the patient don’t want it (typically the stomach and sides) and the injection of the collected fat back into the buttocks and hips.
Generally, after three months, the fat that has not been absorbed by the body will remain in the buttocks.
The surgeon will use special equipment’s for this procedure which allows him to take fat in tiny particles from numerous areas of the body and move it to the buttocks. This is then used to sculpt the new shape. When fat is moved in this way and re-injected it is very fragile and needs to pick up a new blood supply from the buttock area.
Swelling may initially add to the buttock volume, however, this will subside over a period of one month. Buttocks will settle after six weeks and fat remaining after three months will be permanent. Improvement in the condition of tissues will continue for up to 18 months.
How long Brazilian butt lift results last?
The Brazilian butt lift results usually last between 2– 6 years. The final results are normally seen in 6-8 weeks, although this may vary from patient to patient.
Initially, some patients may need more than one procedure until they achieve the exact results they want. It can also take up to six months before they see full results from the initial procedure.
Patients can help ensure a positive outcome by making sure there weight doesn’t fluctuate. Also, patients need to consider recovery time away from work, which can be one week or longer.
What to expect after Brazilian butt lift surgery?
The buttocks may be swollen for several weeks as patients recovering from surgery. Of all the fat that is transferred from the body will most likely support approximately 2/3rds and so there is a reduction of about one 1/3 over the first month. What is left is them permanent but will fluctuate with the weight, like fat elsewhere in the body.
Swelling is a common reaction from the tissues to the surgical incision and fat injection. It will subside within weeks or a few months.
Nausea or dizziness may devolved depending on the kind of anaesthesia used during the procedure, the patient may feel disoriented. Because of this, the patient must have someone to escort him home after the Brazilian butt lift surgery.
Numbness, as the general anaesthesia wears off patient may feel sensation returning to the nerves. This may take a while as some of the nerves need longer time to recover. Around the buttocks, the loss of sensation may last for months.
Pain and soreness due to the trauma to the body and a small amount of pain is expected after the procedure. The doctor will prescribe painkillers and the painnshould be gone in a few days.
A small waterproof dressing will be applied to the surgical site on the buttocks, which patient will need to wear for a few days after the procedure. A course of antibiotics will prescribe to prevent the chance of infection.
Is there downtime with a Brazilian Butt Lift?
Like any surgery, the patient needs to take special care after a Brazilian butt lift procedure.
The patient must adhere to strict rules on no sitting for a couple of weeks and lying on their front to sleep for the first month, as they would not be able to sit on the buttocks for two weeks following surgery, and they will need to sleep on their side or on their stomach until the area has completely healed.
Typically patient will need around two weeks off of work and six weeks refraining from exercise.
The surgeon will also advise the patients on how to return to normal daily activities depending on their individual circumstances. The surgeon will be always there to ensure that the patient is safe and comfortable and happy during recovery.
What is a skinny BBL?
The name comes from both the amount of fat used and from a broad generalization of the type of patient undergoing this the BBL treatment. A skinny BBL is a fat transfer procedure in which we harvest the fat by liposuction, usually from the abdomen and hips and injecting that fat into the buttocks. That is essentially what a traditional BBL but the key differences are the amount of fat is far less and usually the patient’s body shape is smaller and they want to achieve a smaller buttock enhancement.
