Should I have surgery with the same surgeon after my butt implant has flipped twice? (Photo)

Based purely upon your photos and story, it is quite possible that your buttock implants are not completely within the gluteus (ie “intramuscular”). Buttock implants that are not completely within the muscle
or on top of the muscle exhibit signs and symptoms that you are experiencing – sagging within the first year or so, easily palpable and flipping. This can only be confirmed with an in-person physical exam and/or an MRI scan. If this indeed is the case, the same problems will exist and get worse over time unless your implants are removed from the current pocket and placed completely intramuscular. Because an extremely few number of board certified plastic surgeons specialize in intramuscular buttock implants, you may have to travel away from your local area to seek consultation with this particular type of surgeon. Final note, BBL is NOT the solution. Hope this helps.

Dear Honest33178,
finding the right Dr. is extremely challenging especially with the number of online platforms and resources available. There a lot of great Dr's available. Make sure he/she is a board-certified plastic surgeon. Definitely check to make sure your choice specializes in the procedure you want and spend the time to read through patient testimonials. There is a number of different sites where you can check for reviews (Realself, yelp, google, etc.).You can always pick up the phone and call around also, find an office you feel comfortable with and set up a few consultations.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Once you butt implant has started to flip, it is time to think about simultaneous butt implant removal and fat grafting transfer. This procedure is technical and requires advanced tools and expert technique. First, an ultrasound probe must be used to ensure that the transferred fat does not get into the pocket created by the implant once the implant is removed as this will result in the death of all the fat. Second, use of VASER liposuction to harvest the fat will be required since you probably don’t have much fat to begin with since you elected to have a butt implant rather than a BBL the first time go around. Additionally, VASER allows for thinner layer of fat grafting that is required for refilling of the area where the implant was previously positioned. This is because this layer has been thinned out and can only accept liquified fat that is harvested using VASER technology. Fat should also be harvested with 1) a closed looped system to process the fat in order to optimize transfer time and avoid your fat from becoming contaminated and 2) strategic micro-packet transplant technique that maximizes graft take. These processes have demonstrated over 90% fat graft take. Finally, we must consider whether you will need a skin tightening maneuver such as a lateral thigh and buttock tuck that might be required if you have sagging buttock skin. Last but not least, attention must be given to providing you the buttock shape that YOU desire. This means using our proprietary BBL assessment tool.One of the most common reasons for disgruntled Butt implant patients is that patients are not able to accurately communicate their desired buttocks goals to their surgeons. Our buttock 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

The decision is yours to be made and yours to be made alone.

If you have faith in your provider and feel they did a good job and are standing by their work then that is the correct person to do the second procedure.

Implants have a long list of complications and undesirable side effects. you are seeing this firsthand. The best way to minimize these problems is to have the implants placed intramuscularly and stay with an implant size that fits within the gluteus muscles.

If your procedure wasn’t done that way then you were most likely continue to have issues with the implants being palpable or visible at the edges and possibly changing positions. Trying to cover up the visible edges by grafting fat is not the best way to do it in my opinion.

The correct approach would be to get the implants in the correct pocket and that may require choosing a surgeon who has a track record for doing this procedure successfully with intramuscular placed implants.

It doesn’t hurt to have a few consultations but the number of providers who are truly experienced with intramuscular implant placement aren’t very many.

Well I typically don’t recommend traveling for surgical procedures there’s only a handful of providers across the country who really specialize and do consistent work with this procedure.

The majority of plastic surgeons don’t do gluteal implants.

There’s a reason for that.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD