The patient on this page is a female patient who came to SurgiSculpt for a safe BBL surgery. Note the transformation of her shape from flat to full and round. Photos are before and three months after her safe BBL surgery.
Why is safety in Brazilian butt lifts a concern?
Safety in BBL is a critical concern because of a detrimental side effect of BBL surgery involving the inadvertent entry of fat into the vascular system called fat emboli. Fat emboli can be life-threatening if the fat travels through the venous system and gets stuck in the lungs’ arteries. If a large enough fat gets stuck in the lung arteries, this can result in pulmonary emboli, which can be life-threatening.
Fat emboli risk can be minimized by avoiding fat injection into or under the muscle. This is because the main vein responsible for fat entry into the vascular system is the superior gluteal vein, the largest in caliber under the muscle. Avoiding fat injection into or under the muscle is difficult because the soft tissue thickness of the buttock and muscle layers are difficult to gauge when performing BBL surgery. A thinner patient may have a very fat layer that may not be easily appreciated, thus making fat entry into or under the muscle feasible. Several novel methods for avoiding intramuscular fat injection are currently being evaluated.
The fat grafting cannula avoids the entry of fat into the intramuscular or submuscular plane. The fat grafting cannula utilizes a cannula shaft that is visible under ultrasound. This makes the cannula useable under ultrasound guidance when injecting fat. Since both the cannula and the fat and muscle interface are visualized, fat injection into or under the muscle can be avoided. What other methods are being investigated to avoid intramuscular or submuscular fat injection? Currently, several medical device companies are studying the possibility of utilizing impedance (electronic resistance) differences between muscle and fat to devise a cannula that would provide the surgeon feedback if the tip of the cannula were to enter the muscle. For example, audible feedback could inform surgeons when the cannula tip is not in the fat layer. This process would prevent surgeons from injecting fat into or under the muscle.
The concept of patient positioning has been investigated anecdotally. Intuitively, if you were to flex the bed, called anti-flexion, so that you jackknifed the patient, placing the fat grafting cannula into the muscle from a vector standpoint would make it more difficult. However, recent studies have demonstrated that this flexion makes the fat layer thinner in girth because of the tightening of the overlying skin.
From previous descriptions, the symptoms of pulmonary emboli present immediately after surgery. This means that your vitals, i.e., oxygenation and blood pressure, will crash while in the PACA or postoperative recovery unit. You don’t have to worry about this complication if you are doing well when you leave the operating suite.
The treatment for a pulmonary emboli complication is supportive care. This means oxygenating you with oxygen supplements, intravenous fluids, and intubation on a ventilator. Whether or not you will bounce back typically depends on the extent of the embolus and the degree of clotting in the pulmonary arteries.
Safe BBL refers to the surgery utilizing ultrasound guidance when fat grafting the buttock cheeks. The fat grafting cannula transfers the fat and allows for direct visualization of where the fat cells are injected. The risk of fat emboli is minimized by ensuring that all fat cells are injected only into the fat layer above the muscle. SCUBA, which stands for Safe California Ultrasound-assisted Buttock Augmentation, describes safe BBL principles.
Part of the safe Brazilian butt lift guidelines is the precautions taken to ensure patients are provided an accurate rendition of their desired buttock shape. This is done using the buttock assessment tool, where patients can choose between buttock size and shape permutations.
Yes, in the hands of the right surgeon.
Brazillian butt lift (BBL) surgery is a procedure to improve the contour of the buttocks by placing fat in strategic areas. But is BBL Safe? The safe BBL or Brazilian butt lift was the most popular cosmetic surgery procedure in 2019. With an era full of stars with the idealized hourglass figure and full butts, BBLs have become ever-popular.
A BBL is a fat grafting procedure that requires removing and harvesting excess fat from other body parts, then injecting the fat back into the butt. BBLs are widely known for improving the fullness and shape of the buttocks using your fat.
BBLs improve not only the proportion and contouring of the lower body but are enhanced by contouring the waist and abdomen. This popular BBL surgery has usurped traditional surgical options such as butt implants, providing a more natural-looking and customizable result for unique patient needs.
With this, the big question is, “Are BBLs safe?” Brazilian butt lifts are not without complications, so it is critical to research as a patient and pick an experienced board-certified plastic surgeon who can appreciate your personalized goals and surgical plan.
Your cosmetic surgeon should be highly knowledgeable in not only the aesthetic of the body but anatomy, as a safe BBL requires a strategic injection of fat into specific areas of the butt to create a more full and defined shape. BBLs are complex, from purifying, harvesting, and grafting collected fat.
Safe BBL Procedure
A surgeon with the proper experience and training and an intimate understanding of safely and correctly performing the surgery on your body will conduct a safe BBL.
Safe BBLs avoid fat injection into or under the muscle, eliminating the risk of a fat embolism. A proper technique for a safe BBL would only have the transferred fat injected into the subcutaneous layer of existing fat and should not be injected any deeper.
SurgiSculpt surgeons perform safe BBL procedures. The board-certified plastic surgeon of Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Clinics in Los Angeles, California, uses high-resolution ultrasound-assisted liposuction techniques when performing a safe BBL procedure. This practice is also known as SCUBA— Safe California Ultrasound-assisted Buttock Augmentation.
We utilize a jackknife angle on the bed when injecting the fat into the buttocks, which also minimizes fat injection to <1500 cc. Safe BBLs also require postoperative monitoring, including oxygen saturation levels, tachycardia, and rapid heart rate. Low oxygen saturation levels and tachycardia are the first signs of pulmonary embolization, a life-threatening complication.
If you are interested in a safe BBL, we encourage you to view SurgiSculpt’s BBL surgery gallery of before and after photos to appreciate possible changes. You can contact our SurgiSculpt surgeons and their team for a safe BBL procedure inquiry in Los Angeles, California. SurgiSculpt surgeons are well-regarded for their safe and transformative safe BBL results.
