How is a butt lift performed?
Below outlines the general steps for a standard butt lift; however, these steps may vary depending on the approach you and your aesthetic plastic surgeon decide on.
- Your surgeon will make an incision at the top of the buttocks, in the hips, groin, or under the buttock cheeks, remove excess skin and then pull the remaining skin taut.
- The surgeon may use liposuction to further contour the buttock area or thighs and achieve a balanced look.
- If you combine a butt lift with a volume-enhancing procedure, your surgeon will conduct a Brazilian butt lift using fat transfer or insert butt implants.
- Your surgeon sutures and closes your incisions in layers to ensure the skin remains tight.
- Finally, the surgeon will place drains and dressings, and you will likely need to wear a compression garment or girdle to reduce swelling and tighten the skin.
What are my butt lift options?
There are several butt lifts options. Your aesthetic plastic surgeon will recommend an approach based on body shape and your aesthetic goals, including whether you are looking to reduce or increase the size of your butt
Standard Butt Lift
If you have a sagging butt after weight loss or due to aging and are looking to reshape, lift or reduce the size of your butt, your surgeon may recommend a standard butt lift.
Depending on the quality of your skin, how much excess skin or fat there is to remove, and your body shape, your surgeon will determine the best approach for you. If there is a large amount of skin to remove, your surgeon may recommend having a lower body lift with your standard butt lift. If removing the skin will result in a loss of volume in your butt area, your surgeon may recommend combining your butt lift with a Brazilian butt lift (fat transfer) or butt implants.
Brazilian Butt Lift using Fat Transfer (also known as BBL)
If you wish to add volume to your butt and you have enough excess fat in other areas of your body that can be grafted, your surgeon may recommend a Brazilian butt lift using fat transfer. This procedure takes fat from one area of your body and uses it to enhance and reshape your buttocks.
- Your surgeon will use liposuction with suction tubes (cannulas) to remove fatty tissue from areas of your body with excess tissue, such as the abdomen, hips, back, or thighs.
- Your surgeon then processes the fat for fat transfer and reinjects it into your butt cheeks using syringes connected to cannulas.
- Usually, there are three to five small incisions to inject the fat, but these incision sites are easily hidden by clothing.
- Your surgeon will graft the fat in layers at multiple levels, moving the cannula back and forth to ensure a smooth, linear deposit of fatty tissue and uses the fat to reshape and augment the buttocks area.
- Your surgeon closes the liposuction incisions with sutures, inserts drains, and dresses you in a compression garment.
Not all the fat transferred in a BBL procedure survives, and the final result may be somewhat smaller than initially projected. You may need to have repeat procedures (round two or round three) to achieve your desired results.
A Brazilian butt lift procedure is primarily about improving body torso contours, improving the waistline, reducing back rolls, and providing a more curvaceous figure. Typically with BBL, your surgeon does not remove any skin, and the “lift” effect comes primarily from the increased volume and projection of your butt using fat transfer.
Butt Implants
If you desire a more rounded appearance and are very slender with little excess fat, your surgeon may recommend butt implants. Implants are most appropriate for treating flat or poorly defined buttocks. Butt implants are not as effective for treating sagging buttocks that may occur after significant weight loss. In this case, you may want to consider combining your butt implants with a butt lift.
- With this procedure, your surgeon places a soft, shaped silicone implant through an incision hidden inside the natural buttock crease, or an alternate incision site. Your surgeon will provide further details about potential incision locations during your consultation.
- The surgeon positions the implant in a pocket below the large buttock (gluteal) muscle and above the pelvic bone.
- Your surgeon then closes the incisions with sutures, inserts drains and dresses you in a compression garment.
*Patient safety warning* Silicone injections are an unsafe and unacceptable option for buttock augmentation. Unlicensed individuals often offer these injections, and you should avoid them. Always consult with a board-certified aesthetic plastic surgeon if you are considering a buttock augmentation procedure so you can minimize your potential risks.