How common are abscess after a BBL?

Dear Tfannin87,abscesses or fat necrosis are possible but rare complications after BBL surgery. 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

I think that fat necrosis and abscesses are certainly rare, but this will increase with the amount of fat transferred.  The best thing to do is to select a surgeon who has an exceptionally low rate of these occurrences.  Find a BBL expert who performs hundreds of BBLs each year and has great reviews and great before and after pictures.

fat necrosis is not that frequent complication of fat transfer. It may occur due too much fat grafts placed into certain area, sometimes as a result of particular injection technique. I would say less than 1% complication rate.  

BBL is an over-popularized procedure with more risks than are commonly discussed:Failure to augment - only 30-50% of the transferred fat survives, often irregularly;Fat embolism - every year there are patient deaths following this procedure due to poor technique;Fat necrosis - not all dead fat is absorbed, some becomes nodular with painful calcification;Abscess formation - dead fat can form a sterile abscess or an infected abscess.BBL is over-hyped and the risks are underappreciated.  Be sure you get the opinion of a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (do not accept "cosmetic" surgeey boards....).  This procedure IS risky and it is being offered by a lot of poorly trained and un-credentialed practitioners.