Brazilian Butt Lift

Conveniently located to serve Washington DC, Arlington, Bethesda

What is a Brazilian Butt Lift?

A Brazilian Butt Lift or BBL for short is a procedure where fat is harvested and then processed and injected into your buttocks.  This can be used to shape the area, increase size and create an hourglass figure.

Who is a good candidate?

If you are healthy, have enough extra fat for “harvesting”, reasonably good skin tone and desire improved fullness or shaping of your buttocks, then you may be a good candidate for surgery

How is a BBL performed?

The fat is most often  harvested with a lipo 360 procedure to remove fat from your abdomen, love handles, upper and lower back, and bra line area (although in some patients, the thighs or even arms may be used as “donor” sites).  This creates the hourglass shape and  “negative space” . This fat is processed and then injected into the buttocks and/or hip area. Fat graft is placed above the muscle to minimize the risk of fat entering veins in the muscle which can be dangerous.

Is it safe?

BBL surgery has been associated with an increased risk of a condition called fat emboli.  This is when fat is injected into the muscle and enters the veins in the muscle.  This can be life threatening and these events have been recorded most often in Miami, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.  Surgeons in these areas often inject into the “danger triangle” of the gluteus muscle and there have even been reports of surgeons mixing fat with industrial silicone for more volume.  We specifically design the surgery to inject the fat above the muscle as recommended by the American Society of Plastic Surgery.  Being a trained reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Ramineni is intimately familiar with the deep anatomy of this region. This maximizes the safety of the procedure.

Recovery

Recovery is similar to liposuction with most patients returning to work in 1-2 weeks and back to the gym in 3-4 weeks.  Compression garments need to be worn for at least a month after surgery.  There is no sitting, except for toileting, for the first 2 weeks and then a gradual increase in the amount of time you can sit.

Risks 

1. Liposuction risks – see liposuction
2. Fat emboli – see above
3. Loss of volume – there will be some loss of volume due to swelling and your body resorbing some of the injected fat. This percentage can vary per patient but is higher in smokers and patients who are not as healthy.  In some cases a second stage BBL may be needed if you desire a very large increase in size. 
4. Asymmetry, contour issues – we will try to correct any preexisting asymmetry and buttock indentations, however patients will cellulite will likely still have some after surgery
5. Changes in size – fat cells are dynamic, so increases or decreases in weight can cause the fat cells to increase or decrease in size.

Before & After