Buttock augmentation surgery continues to grow in popularity. One of these techniques is the Brazilian Butt Lift which helps to enlarge and reshape the buttocks to a more prominent and youthful appearance. Ironically, it is not a buttock lift in the traditional sense but a method of fat injections to do the reshaping and the ‘lifting’.
This method of buttock augmentation reshapes the tissues overlying the gluteus muscles by using one’s own fat in a transfer method. For thin patients who do not have enough fat to harvest and transfer, they will need to enlarge their buttocks by the insertion of a silicone implant. In a good candidate for the Brazilian Butt Lift, liposuction is first done in areas around the buttocks such as the hips, lower back, and on the posterior thigh up to the lower buttock crease. The removed fat is then carefully prepared and concentrated through differing methods of purification and isolation. (there is no universal agreement as to the best fat concentration method) The fat is then re-injected back into the gluteal area for reshaping and augmentation. The method of fat injection is important and I prefer placing small amounts of fat at different depths with the hope of decreasing the amount of fat absorption after surgery.
The procedure is usually performed all in one surgery. While multiple smaller injection sessions may lead to better fat volume retention, this approach is usually not economically practical for most patients. However, additional or touch-up injections months later can enhance the results or correct any minor deficiencies or irregularities that may remain.
The aesthetic objective of buttock fat transfer is to give the buttocks more of a bowl shape in its central regions. This means that the identified central region of the buttocks receives the most fat and it is tailored out from there. While no one knows a magic number as to how much volume of fat can be injected that will ideally survive, 250 to 300 ccs is what I usually inject. This will make most buttocks fairly tense and tight at that volume and more than that seems that one is only injecting ‘ free fat into free fat’.
Most patients can return to work and activities fairly quickly, one week for work and ten days for exercising. Any discomfort is more from the liposuctioned sites than it is from the injected buttock area.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana