46-year-old female patient 3 months after her skinny Brazilian Buttock Lift
Am I Too Thin for a Skinny BBL is a Common Concern
Being told, “You are too thin for a Skinny BBL,” is frequent for patients. This is because patients wanting a butt augmentation are often very athletic and possess very little fat. Athletic patients may have a very low body fat percentage but maintain a stable weight and have realistic expectations. Before we discuss the details of a Skinny BBL, let’s talk a little about what motivates clients to get a skinny BBL.
Why “Am I Too Thin for a Skinny BBL?” is a Common Concern
Having an aesthetic, perky buttock is multifactorial. First, you must have good genes that will gift you a shapely buttock. That’s right! Some of us are naturally just more fortunate than others. But this is not the end of the story. If you are thin and carry a tiny or flat buttock, you can still get a stronger and shapelier buttock. This means dedicating yourself to high-resistance training to build up your gluteal or buttock muscles.
Did you know that the gluteus maximus muscle, located over the center of your buttock, is your body’s strongest and largest single muscle? So if you commit to getting a shapelier buttock shape, you must learn to love doing squats. Other than frequently hitting the gym, cosmetic surgery may be your only alternative.
The fat transfer to the buttocks can immediately offer you natural-looking, well-shaped glutes. And yes, even an athletic or thin build client possesses enough fat stores for harvest and transfer to accomplish a skinny BBL.
The Skinny BBL was created for the client who states, “AM I too thin for a skinny BBL?”
A Skinny BBL (Brazilian Butt Lift) is a surgical procedure that transfers fat from other body parts, such as the abdomen, arms, legs, waist, or back to the buttocks. This procedure allows even slim or athletic clients to get shapelier buttocks when diet and exercise don’t work.
With this surgery, your plastic surgeon collects fat from any areas where the fat is not wanted or can be spared. It’s the perfect option to obtain natural results without using silicone implants. Unfortunately, implants are prone to shifting around and are associated with long-term complications.
What defines a Skinny BBL is two-fold. First, the typical clients are thin and athletic. Second, the buttock shapes the client’s desires. The Skinny BBL is best described as a buttock with maximum central projection over the mid and upper buttock cheek. At the same time, there is the conservative filling of the mid-lateral buttock. What does conservative filling of the mid-lateral buttock mean?
Conservative filling of the mid-lateral buttock means that you will eliminate a double bubble (created by prominent flanks and lateral thighs). As such, your surgeon will create the perfect hourglass shape. Plastic surgeons define the perfect shape by a maximum buttock width at the mid-lateral buttock level without effacing your lateral gluteal depression.
The lateral gluteal depression is a natural concavity. It is located at the lateral border of the gluteus maximus muscle attachment to the pelvic bone and depicts the aesthetic goal of a shapely yet athletic buttock. This is in contrast to a bubble butt, which is fluffy and round throughout and predicated on maximizing volume!
How Do I Get Enough Fat for a Skinny BBL?
Getting enough fat to achieve a skinny BBL requires several measures. First, you must perform 360 liposuctions circumferentially over all areas where fat is undesired or can be spared. This is because athletic clients have a very thin lining of fat throughout their bodies, typically maintaining less than 15% body fat. As such, harvesting a little bit of fat from everywhere is required to obtain enough fat to achieve the goals of even a skinny BBL.
Another measure is using VASER liposuction technology which allows for increased fat harvest by removing fat from the superficial fat layer. This superficial layer is not amenable to fat removal using traditional liposuction methods. In addition, athletic clients with body fat < 15% demonstrate little fat in their deeper compartments,
with only residual fat left in the superficial fat. This makes the use of VASER liposuction critical to be able to remove the little fat available. The final drive to use VASER stems from the fact that fat, which may be limited in supply, is best preserved by using the VASER technology since it is gentler to the fat cells due to its proprietary cavitation technology. Approximately 60 to 80% of the fat survives the process.
The Typical Skinny BBL patient
Our athletic patients may weigh as little as 120 pounds and be able to provide no more than 2000cc of collected fat, termed lipoaspirate. Your plastic surgeon may process only 700 to 1000cc of fat for transfer from this lipoaspirate. This means 350 to 500cc of fat transfer may be available in a Skinny BBL. These volumes are inadequate for most BBL patients’ desired 750cc to 1000cc. However, on an athletic build, smaller volumes of transfer will have a dramatic effect. As such, plastic surgeons do not consider this as too thin for a Skinny BBL.
The Skinny BBL Involves Two Procedures
The skinny BBL is two cosmetic procedures in one:
- VASER Liposuction fat harvest
- Fat processing and transfer
VASER Ultra-Sound Assisted liposuction can maximize fat harvest, especially from athletic clients. It also allows for preserving fat cell integrity, which is critical when limited fat volumes are available. Next, your plastic surgeon must optimize fat processing and transfer to maximize fat graft take. Plastic surgeons can optimize this processing of fat by using a closed-loop system that provides multiple advantages to traditional fat processing techniques. First, it minimizes body time for the fat cells. Second, it minimizes the risk of contamination or infection.
What Makes a Skinny BBL vs. a Regular BBL?
Most patients who request a skinny BBL have body mass indexes (BMI) below 24. In these cases, the surgeon has to be exceptionally skilled in the art of fat extraction. This is because the fat is only limited to the superficial layer, making VASER liposuction critical for fat extraction. Interestingly, gaining a little weight before your skinny BBL is not advisable. Gaining weight will result in more fat cell injuries during the harvest process since they must travel through small holes in the cannula tips. The larger the fat cells, the more they are prone to mechanical injury, thus making the fat more prone to injury.
In contrast, the more generous-sized client provides sufficient fat volumes for harvest and subsequent transfer. As such, a regular BBL is similar to the skinny BBL procedure. There is easier access to fat reserves, and it focuses more on shaping the contours with increased volume. In summary, the skinny BBL focuses more on the shape rather than the shear volume of the buttocks created.
Alternative Options to the Fat augmentation Brazilian Butt Lift Procedure
There are FDA-approved fillers that your plastic surgeon can combine with the fat they extract from the patient to enhance the results of skinny BBL. As a rule, these options only provide temporary enhancement and are not recommended for definitive and permanent results. However, they can serve as a trial for patients who are not yet committed to undergoing traditional surgery or think they are too thin for a Skinny BBL.
