Over the last few years, the buttocks have received more press coverage than ever before. Women of all ages and body types visit Premiere Surgical Arts interested in the possibility of our Houston Brazilian Butt Lift procedure. While breast surgery is still the most popular cosmetic procedure, Brazilian Butt Lifts have become more and more sought after over the past five years with a 23% increase in the number performed from 2014 to 2015. Celebrities like Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian have really brought curves and the desire for a nice butt to the forefront.
What Butt Shape Are You?
Let’s face it, not many of us are blessed with ideal proportions and our bodies fall all along a spectrum with a wide range of variations. In fact, there are four main shapes of buttocks alone.
The “V” shape is routinely considered the least attractive while the upside down heart is thought to be the most attractive. Genetics plays an important role in determining your buttock shape. If you look more closely, you’d see that a patient with a V shaped butt has a disproportionate amount of fat in the love handles that makes them deviate from the hourglass shape. The goal of the Brazilian Butt Lift is to redistribute the fat and create this quintessential hourglass figure by helping the butt take on more of the heart shape.
The notion that just going to the gym can enable you to achieve a Nikki or Kim K butt is false. It’s true that you can increase gluteal mass with exercise but results hit a ceiling and you can’t really completely rid yourself of love handles or drastically alter your natural shape no matter how many squats you do. Cosmetic surgery is the only way to get dramatic results.
What is a Brazilian Butt Lift?
Contrary to popular belief, the Brazilian Butt Lift is actually NOT a buttock augmentation or butt lift procedure. Instead, it involves removing excess fat from the love handles and upper back to rebalance and unmask your underlying silhouette. This fat is then transferred to the buttocks to increase its size. Brazilian Butt Lifts should always work to accentuate the normal but ideal curves on a patient. If you look at artistic renderings of female bodies, there are never any straight lines as straight lines aren’t aesthetically appealing and they are actually pretty unflattering.
What Happens During Brazilian Butt Lift Surgery?
To achieve the right curves, we kick off the procedure by injecting the areas where we will be performing liposuction with tumescent anesthesia, which is a combination of sterile saline, lidocaine and epinephrine. This combination works in multiple ways. First, it helps the clumped fat cells spread apart as individual cells in a sea of solution. This makes removing them easier and decreases the likelihood that they will be damaged. Second, the lidocaine provides analgesia to the area allowing for long lasting relief even after the procedure has ended. Lastly, the epinephrine makes the surrounding blood vessels constrict so that the medication stays localized to the target tissues. After the tumescent anesthesia is administered, we remove the unwanted fat, typically from the upper back or love handles, and place it into a sterile container so it can be used in the buttocks.
After the fat is removed, it’s transferred to the butt. We accomplish the fat transfer with the Autoinfuser (aka Buttomatic 6000) that Dr. Miami has employed to sculpt and inject fat with unparalleled precision. We inject the fat above the muscle to enhance the projection and roundness of the butt. Additional liposuction can be performed around the buttock region to help it look even more lifted and improve the contour. The procedure takes two to three hours.
Recovering After Surgery
After surgery, you should make every attempt to avoid sitting or lying down on the buttock. You’ll be given a Brazilian Butt Lift pillow to use for the first six weeks so that no pressure is applied to the area of grafting. You’ll also get a compression garment that will need to be worn for a minimum of six weeks to help shape the body and push out the extra fluid.
You’ll notice right away that your butt looks a lot larger than expected but this is due to swelling and excess fat. This swelling resolves over the next four weeks and the butt will look smaller. During all consultations, I am very realistic and make sure the patient understands that approximately 50 to 60% of the fat that is transferred will survive. The fat that doesn’t survive will be slowly cleared by the body. About four to six weeks after surgery, patients can see the real size of their new and improved butt.
Is Brazilian Butt Lift Surgery Safe?
The Internet and certain news stories about the Brazilian Butt Lift have been polarizing. There have been catastrophic complications reported related to the procedure but in these incidences, people underwent a butt lift at the hands of an unqualified individual or were injected with materials other than their own fat in places like salons. Just like any surgery, there are risks but as an experienced surgeon, I make all efforts to minimize the risks of Brazilian Butt Lift procedures.
At Premiere Surgical Arts, we take patient care very seriously. Our surgery center is fully accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, or the AAHC. Achieving accreditation involves meeting or exceeding extremely stringent standards of care and safety. We also have highly trained operating staff as well as an on-site anesthetist.
For Brazilian Butt Lift procedures, our anesthetist administers IV sedation unless a patient requests general anesthesia. In our experience, patients are very comfortable with twilight (IV) sedation and this decreases the chances of blood clots forming and makes the procedure safer. Additionally, we use the patient’s own fat to enhance the butt. In many of the stories of disastrous procedures, other substances that weren’t FDA-approved were injected into the patient which would never happen at Premiere Surgical Arts.
I make sure that each patient receives detailed pre- and post-surgical care instructions. Things like quitting smoking prior to surgery are important and also lessen the chance of blood clots. Patients will want to follow the aftercare protocol closely as well. Not only will it help you maximize your results, you’ll be safer and healthier too.
How Much Does a Brazilian Butt Lift Cost?
Traditionally, two to three areas of liposculpture are included with a procedure and Brazilian Butt Lift pricing starts around $6,500. This cost will vary if the patient desires additional areas of body sculpting or another type of anesthesia. We do accept monthly payment plans like CareCredit as long as it’s implemented before the procedure.
Before and After Brazilian Butt Lift
To see how a Brazilian Butt Lift can change your shape, take a look at some of our Brazilian Butt Lift before and after photos. As you can see, the end result is a perkier, more ample buttock that looks youthful and firm. The overall body profile also appears curvier.
If you’re interested in enhancing your butt and achieving a shapelier, more sensual body, the Brazilian Butt Lift may be the procedure for you. For a Brazilian Butt Lift in Houston, Texas, schedule a consultation at Premiere Surgical Arts. I’ll assess your body, talk about your goals and go over the risks and benefits of the procedure and determine if you’re a good candidate. This will enable you to make an informed decision you feel confident in.
Due to overwhelming demand, we are currently not accepting new cosmetic consultations until 2021. We thank you all for the support and we will let you know when we reopen our consultations with Dr. Jung.