Doing research BBL. Are women dying because they are not going to board certified surgeons?

This procedure has been overly commercialized in certain areas of the country and practice in an unsafe manner by many. However, if done correctly it is a safe and effect method of shaping and lifting the butt. Here are some guidelines:
1. Board Certified Plastic Surgeon with experience in this procedure. Make sure your surgeon has hospital privileges.
2. Fully accredited facility, AAAASF, where your procedure will be done
3. Board Certified Anesthesiologist (doctor) doing your anesthesia
4. Liposuction aspirate not exceeding 5 liters
5. Fat placement ONLY in the subcutaneous plane (not intramuscular)

Dear Session21,
as long as your surgeon is well trained and follows the guidelines, you should be fine. If you are considering a surgery, I would suggest you to consult a board-certified plastic surgeon. Only after a thorough examination you will get more information and recommendations.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

It’s pretty difficult for patients to do research because almost all the information available online is biased towards trying to prove a point or selling you something.

Board certification in plastic surgery is important for a number of reasons including the following.

Providers who have not learned how to do these procedures through formal residency training programs do so by experimenting on people causing permanent disfigurement along the way until they finally figure out how to do the procedure.

Does lacking training can typically not offer alternative procedures.

A lack of training typically also includes the inability to properly diagnose and treat common and serious complications from the procedure.

Why anybody would choose a Doctor Who doesn’t have formal training in the procedure you’re interested in is beyond my understanding.

There is for sure confusion in the marketplace with rogue organizations like the American Board of cosmetic surgery which only requires an annual fee to be a member. This organization is not recognized by any university or any formal medical training body in the United States but still, they exist solely for the purpose of confusing the public. Doesn’t A board certified cosmetic surgeon sound more appropriate than a board-certified plastic surgeon? The truth is there is no residency in cosmetic surgery so there is no official board. The organization called the American Board of cosmetic surgery is a get together of all the rogue players who didn’t want to do their time getting the proper training through a residency in plastic surgery. These include all the OB/GYN, general surgeons, emergency room doctors etc. etc. who simply want to do cash procedures that pay better than insurance-based medicine.

The American society of plastic surgeons put together a safety task force after it was understood that the BBL had a significant higher level of fat embolism than other procedures. When tallying the fatalities to rock players in Florida neither one were plastic surgeons had a cumulative death toll of 10 dead patients among the two of them.

Most plastic surgeons have implemented new safety protocols and with those the fatality rates are no longer as bad as ones described.

I recommend having multiple in person consultations with local board-certified plastic surgeons at which time you can ask each individual provider of what steps they are taking to minimize the chance of a fat embolism during the procedure.

We do not have current statistics on the fatality of a BBL after the implementation of safety protocols.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD