As buttock augmentation had grown in popularity the desire for hip augmentation has as well. Given their anatomic proximity it is no surprise that patients seeking augmentation for one may inevitably request augmentation of the other.
This is seen in patient who have had successful buttock augmentation and now may feel that their hips are ‘missing’ or deficient. They may also have erroneously thought that augmentation of the buttocks naturally goes out to the side into the hip area. Hip augmentation is also requested by women with a straight hip profile and in male to female transgender patients as part of their body feminization efforts.
While hip augmentation can be done with fat injections just like buttock augmentation this requires adequate donor sites to get the fat to do it. When that is not a treatment option attention is turned to an implant augmentation method. Unlike buttock implants, however, there is not a preformed standard line of hip implants from which to choose. There has never been developed an actual hip implant due to the historic low demand for it.
As a result the few surgeons that perform hip implants use a variety of body implants in an off-label fashion or have them custom made for each patient. While I prefer the custom hip implant approach, there are some useful shapes and sizes of buttock implants that may be useful for specific hip augmentation needs.
A circular low profile buttock implant can be useful for augmentation of the discrete hip dip or trochanteric depression. While a circular shaped implant is not usually the best design for hip augmentation it does work for the more circular hip dip deformity. Inserted though a small 4 cm incision above the hip dip it can be placed down onto the fascia. I prefer such impacts to have perfusion holes placed in it for tissue growth and long-term stability.
Without standard hip implants available some types of buttock implants may be able to be successfully used instead of going the custom hip implant route.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis Indiana