Brazilian Butt Lift

Pre-op appointments, surgical, anesthesia, post-op care, concierge nurse, long lasting numbing medication, stage 1 compression garment, recovery gear including cream and supplements, step by step instruction books.

These days it seems everyone wants to have a bigger, rounder backside. That’s exactly what a Brazilian butt lift does. In these procedures, fat is harvested through liposuction from an unwanted area such as the lower abdomen or outer thighs. It is purified to remove everything but the autologous fat cells. These fat cells are then injected back into the buttocks. Dr. Gear pays particular attention to the upper buttocks with these injections, as that area has usually flattened somewhat as the patient has aged.

Prior to the development of this procedure, the only way to change your buttocks was through surgical butt implants. Dr. Gear never performed these surgeries, as he felt they involved too many risks of complications such as the implants shifting. With a Brazilian butt lift, now we can take the patient’s own fat and use it to round out her bottom.

If you’ve never liked the lack of shape of your buttocks, these fat transfers put your unwanted fat to good use filling out your backside. Your new shapelier bottom will look great in slacks and swimsuits. You can shop for styles that accentuate your new curves. Round, curvy figures are in these days, thankfully replacing the emaciated looks of the past couple of decades.

Brazilian butt lifts have the added benefit of removing fat from an unwanted area, such as the waist, flanks, thighs, or lower abdomen. That liposuction slims your contour in that area.

If you don’t like the lack of size or shape with your buttocks, a Brazilian butt lift can change that. This procedure with Dr. Gear enhances your natural curves. It can add volume and roundness to a flat or small butt. A butt lift can add size, giving the patient a more prominent butt. Really the only requirement for these procedures is that the patient has enough unwanted fat that can be harvested to use for the transfer.

The Brazilian butt lift is a two-step procedure performed with the patient under general anesthesia. It takes from two to four hours. To harvest the fat, Dr. Gear performs tumescent liposuction. This helps to contour areas surrounding the buttocks, such as the flanks. This can accentuate the shape that will be added to your buttocks. This harvesting is done through a closed system to keep the fat pure and clear from possible contamination. The harvested fat is then purified to separate the fat cells from other cells, blood, and other liquid.

Now it’s time for Dr. Gear to take the purified fat and transfer it to your buttocks. He does this through hundreds of tiny injections at varying depths. This ensures an even, natural-looking augmentation. As mentioned briefly above, special attention is given to the upper buttocks because this presents a lifted, younger-looking profile. This is the area of our backside that tends to flatten and descend as we age.

For Dr. Gear to be able to use the fat to augment your backside, we need to first harvest it from an area you’d like to see it depart. Where you choose to have this removed is, of course, up to you. The most popular areas for harvesting the fat needed for re-injection are the lower back, waist, flanks (love handles), thighs, and lower abdomen.

There isn’t a “set” amount of fat to be removed. During your consultation with Dr. Gear, the two of you will discuss your goals. How much larger do you want your buttocks to be? Is the goal to simply add shape or to increase overall size? Your goals will dictate how much fat is needed. Dr. Gear will harvest about three times the amount that will be re-injected. That ensures the highest quality fat cells with the best chances of permanently “taking.” For a rough estimate, 1000 ccs of fat is usually the minimum amount that needs to be harvested.

Dr. Gear and our team at Providence will give you instructions for your recovery to maximize your results. You’ll have to avoid sitting directly on your buttocks or lying on your back for two to three weeks after your procedure. This is very important because the fat cells need to acquire a blood supply to successfully “take.” To do so, they need to not be moved about in the beginning. In about two weeks you’ll be able to return to work; in a month you can resume normal activities.

As you would assume, your results are immediate, but they will continue to evolve because it takes a little while for the fat to successfully integrate by acquiring a blood supply. In fact, your final results may take a full year to show themselves. Over time, some of the initial volumes will diminish — patients retain 60 to 80% of the transferred fat, as the body absorbs the rest.

These are not painful recoveries. The areas Dr. Gear used liposuction to harvest the fat heal quickly. The injection locations will be sore for a few days, but since you’re not going to be sitting on your enhanced bottom, they will be easy to manage with over-the-counter pain medication.

You’ve probably heard some horror stories about these procedures, even deaths. That can be the unfortunate result when a procedure becomes very popular and unskilled practitioners begin offering it. People who either don’t have the necessary training or experience with this process have led to some serious complications in patients. Dr. Gear is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, ensuring the level of expertise necessary to perform all of the procedures we offer. He has over 20 years of surgical experience.

Still, there are risks with a Brazilian butt lift, so it’s critical that patients do their research when it comes to the level of training of the surgeon they choose to perform this procedure.

There are the same risks involved with this procedure as with any surgery: infection, reaction to anesthesia, excessive bleeding, fluid accumulation, and the like.

Specific to this procedure are these risks:

• Numbness or changes in skin sensation
• Fat necrosis
• Asymmetry between buttocks
• Deep vein thrombosis, cardiac and pulmonary complications
• Skin discoloration
• Prolonged swelling
• Enduring pain
• Need for a revision procedure