Question: I am interested in a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL). Someone told me it is very dangerous – is this true or a scare tactic?
Answer:
According to a recent report, a Brazilian Butt Lift appears to be more dangerous than thought.
First of all, what is it? A Brazilian Butt Lift or “BBL” injects fat into the buttocks to enlarge them.
The fat is used for the injections is removed by liposuction from the stomach, flanks and or thighs. The fat is washed, concentrated and injected with a cannula (blunt tube) or needle into the buttocks.
Why is it done? A BBL is popular because silicone buttock implants have a very high rate of infection. A BBL has a very low rate of infection and is now the routine procedure to create larger buttocks.
Results are unpredictable, and only 40 – 70% of injected fat survives. So at first the buttocks look very large, then swelling subsides, some fat absorbs and the final result appears in 3 – 6 months. At times, all the fat absorbs. Results may be lumpy or asymmetric and need corrective treatment. These problems are distressing, but certainly not catastrophic.
However, catastrophe in the form of sudden death can occur if fat gets into large blood vessels. It then goes directly to the lungs making breathing difficult or impossible.
A recent survey of plastic surgeons in Mexico and Columbia, showed that one in every 30 plastic surgeons had had a patient die on the operating table or in 24 hours after surgery from a BBL. Autopsies showed that the deaths were caused by fat injected into the blood vessels in the muscle going to the lungs, suffocating the patient. These were voluntary reports of patient deaths – there may be many more BBL deaths than we know.
This suggests that fat should NOT be injected into the deep buttock muscle, where blood vessels are large. Results may be poorer though, because fat survives so well when injected into the muscle.
Fat injections in general may be more risky than we think – a recent USA report found that fat was the most dangerous filler to inject in the face, more likely to get into the blood vessels and cause blindness, compared to other fillers.
Why? It isn’t clear, but it may be that fat is thicker and can do more damage, wherever it is injected.
So how dangerous is the BBL or any fat injection? Truthfully, we don’t yet know. Thousands are being done across the USA all the time – some by well-trained plastic surgeons, and some not.
If you are going to have a BBL, I personally suggest that you only have a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon do the procedure and that the procedure be done slowly and carefully with the smallest possible cannula. This won’t make it risk-free (nothing in life is!) but it will make it a reasonable procedure to have done.