BBL with pre-existing butt implants - will it cause an infection?

If ultrasound assisted liposuction is performed, you can avoid injury to the implant and not have an increased risk of infection for future procedures. Here at Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Institute we use Safe California Assisted Buttock Augmentation (SCUBA) technology to minimize risk of injury as well as potential formation of a fat emboli.

The optimal BBL outcomes are achieved with: 1) use of VASER liposuction to harvest the fat, 2) a closed looped system such as Puregraft to process the fat, and 3) strategic micro-packet transplant technique. These three processes have demonstrated over 95% fat graft take. This means that your results will be stable as long as you maintain your weight. As an official VASER trainer, I am routinely referred unhappy BBL patients. One of the most common reasons for disgruntled BBL patients is that patients are not able to accurately communicate their desired buttocks goals to their surgeons. A buttocks assessment tool can be an invaluable tool to communicate to your surgeon the exact buttocks size and shape you are desiring. A Skype or FaceTime consultation with a BBL specialist can help you get an accurate recommendation and pricing.

Respectfully,
Arian Mowlavi MD, FACS
Realself 100 Hall of Fame Inductee

Even doing sterile procedures never illuminates 100% of all bacteria.

Even after skin prep and using sterile towels there is bacteria deep inside skin pores that are exposed when making surgical incisions.

Developing surgical infections is not simply a matter of contamination but is due to multiple factors happening at the same time.

One of the things that increases the risk of developing a postoperative infection is the presence of a foreign body. Orthopedic surgeons are perhaps the most diligent about sterile technique and know all too well about foreign bodies becoming contaminated eventually infected and needing to be removed.

Bacteria adherent to a foreign body has a natural safe place and the number of bacteria required to cause a surgical infection when a foreign body is present is substantially smaller than when the bacteria is surrounded by live vascular tissue.

Perhaps the increased risk for infection is theoretical but surgeons often get a little cautious when things are outside of the routine.

Most patients who have gluteal implants do not come seeking at BBL and so doing a BBL on someone with implants represents something that most plastic surgeons have limited experience with.

Despite claiming to place implants intramuscularly in reality most gluteal implants are in fact not placed in the gluteus muscle. The number of providers who actually do true intramuscular implants is limited and even in these cases the entire implant may not be covered by the muscle.

If you’re interested in having a BBL and are happy with your gluteal implants then I suggest scheduling multiple in person consultations at which time you’ll hear firsthand which each provider has to say about your candidacy and doing the procedure with implants in the place.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD