I do a lot of BBLs (aka Brazilian Buttlifts aka fat grafting of the buttocks). It’s a great procedure that can take a square, middle aged, sponge Bob looking torso and make it more youthful, sexy and feminine. I am a fan. I deal with all shapes and sizes of patients who come in with all shapes and sizes of wish pics. One deal killer for a good result after a BBL is what some call a “front butt.” One definition offered up by the Urbane Dictionary is
(Noun) A belly that is so large that it hangs low and has an apparent vertical crease resembling that of a buttocks.
“That guy is so fat he has a front-butt and he looks like a plumber walking backwards“
While I find that definition amusing, my personal definition of a front butt is a little broader. For me, a front butt is
an abdomen that sticks out as far or further than the persons butt when viewed from the side.
Front butts are problematic since they compete visually with and distort someone’s God-given anatomy. A large front butt creates an optical illusion whereby the individual appears to have a small or inadequate buttocks. A front butt throws the body’s natural proportions or symmetry out of whack. A front butt has many causes, including post-pregnancy rectus diastasis, visceral fat, and excessive subdermal or external adipose tissue. Rectus diastasis occurs when the seam between the rectus muscles is damaged and stretched during pregnancy and the muscle position is never restored. The viscera and intra-abdominal contents pouch outwards naturally thus creating a semi-permanent pregnant look. Visceral fat is fat stored around the internal organs. When people gain weight, particularly men, intra-abdominal fat stores expand and the abdomen becomes round, tight and hard. External or subdermal fat, which is part of the normal skin anatomy, also expands with increased weight. With excessive weight gain, most people store the excess fat here.
If you desire body contouring surgery and improved buttocks aesthetics, the solutions vary depending on your anatomy and what specific flavor of front butt you are sporting. If you have had babies and your stomach muscles are blown out, you will need at a minimum an abdominoplasty. If your actual buttocks are small, you can add fat grafting to the buttocks, otherwise know as a Brazilian buttlift. If you have visceral fat, the solution is simple, lose weight. If you have excess external fat, lose weight first. If after that, you have lose flesh that hangs down either due to pregnancy or simply due to massive weight loss, an excisional procedure such as an abdominoplasty may be needed plus or minus fat grafting to the buttocks.
I see a lot of patients who are hot to trot for a bigger butt. More of them than I would care to admit come in sporting a front butt for the reasons described above. They are always surprised and genuinely disappointed to learn that there is more to buttock aesthetics than simply injecting fat. Hard work and additional procedures may be needed. Be forewarned.
