Back in June, Cardi B shared with her Instagram followers that she was considering a tummy tuck. “I just don’t like this extra loose skin, and it’s not—I am a little heavier than usual—but I don’t like it. I want to get rid of it,” she said, joking that her son, Wave, whom she gave birth to in September 2021, “did her wrong.” We would have bet on abdominoplasty being her next plastic surgery, but it turns out that another procedure took priority.
In a recent Instagram Live, Cardi told fans she wanted to be up front with them about what she had gotten done a few months prior. “In August, I got surgery and I removed 95% of my biopolymers… if you don’t know what it is, it’s ass shots. It was a really crazy process. All I’m going to say is that if you’re young, if you’re 19, 20, 21, and sometimes you’re too skinny, and you be like, ‘[Oh my god,] I don’t have enough fat to put in my ass,’ so you result to ass shots, don’t!”
In 2018, the rapper revealed to GQ that she had gotten illegal silicone butt injections in a basement in Queens, New York, for $800. “It was the craziest pain ever. I felt like I was gonna pass out. I felt a little dizzy. And it leaks for, like, five days,” she said at the time. There are a million reasons not to get injections from anyone who isn’t a board-certified doctor or nurse—to list just a few: there is no way to know what kind of material is being injected and if it’s sterile, accidentally injecting a blood vessel can lead to death; and removing silicone from the body often leaves patients disfigured.
It’s unknown what other procedures, if any, Cardi got to balance out her backside after removing the silicone, but it’s likely she got a fat transfer at the same time, since a quick glance at her Instagram feed shows she definitely hasn’t lost her hourglass curves. She also issued a warning on Brazilian butt lifts: “When it comes to BBLs, if y’all want advice from me, before you get your BBL done, you have to make sure your blood levels are all right. If a doctor says your blood levels are too low or you have diabetes or whatever, don’t do it.”
If we’re talking advice, here’s ours: ask your doctor these 20 questions before booking your surgery—and stay away from anyone holding a syringe in a basement.
