1 year post op - what can I do to improve my Brazilian butt lift results? (photos)

You are in good company with many others who had high hopes for BBL but instead received disappointing results (lumpiness, unevenness, lack of projection in the central and/or lower buttock, post-deflation sagging, etc.) as most of the fat melts away. It is not quite as much the quality of the doctor nor liposuction technique but rather the quality of the procedure that is a large part of the problem. Thus, going back for round 2 BBL most often produces the same disappointing results but at another financial loss. Buttock implants indeed provide a more reliable, predictable, relatively safe, and permanent result, especially for adding projection to the buttock and often smoothing out lumpiness. Occasionally a lower buttock tuck may be advantageous for lower buttock fold asymmetries and/or sagging. Please keep in mind that an extremely few number of board-certified plastic surgeons specialize in buttock implants so be sure to consult with one that is reputable and experienced. Unfortunately you may have to travel long and far away from home to find this particular surgeon. Glad to help.

Dear Nice175738,
I understand your concern. However, without a proper assessment, it would be difficult to determine what went wrong. It is best that you visit your plastic surgeon for further assessment or ask for a second opinion. Only after a thorough examination, you can get proper recommendations and advice.
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

I encourage you to consider Aveli for cellulite. This single treatment is done in the office and is FDA approved to target cellulite of the buttocks. You can click on the link to my website to learn more. I've also included a video addressing BBL revision.

The series of posted photos are just OK, really need nude and slightly further focal distances. I recommend Reshaping BBL with lipo of areas to have donor fat to re inject if needed. Fee $8,000. Best to virtual consult with......

Delivering consistent quality liposuction and fat transfer results is more difficult than most people believe.
The number of plastic surgeons could do this procedure well on a consistent basis including the ability to make an accurate assessment and show numerous before and after pictures making it clear with each individual patient results will look like is relatively few.
Different providers have different ideas on how to proceed there should be performed. There is an unfortunate trend of doing Liposuction on the upper thigh in some type of attempt of making the buttocks look larger. in doing so the natural S-curve which should be emphasized is instead destroyed.
To make an assessment on the outcome of the procedure we always need to see proper before and after pictures. If you don’t have before and after pictures and ask your surgeon to forward the ones they took.
It looks to me like you had liposuction done of your upper thigh most likely to try to emphasize a bigger bottom. this destroyed the natural S-curve that should be the continuation of your buttocks onto your thigh.
The deformity was caused by surgery that was done incorrectly and the only way to correct it is with more surgery.
Correctly this is going to be difficult and may require multiple procedures.
Revision work is many times more difficult than primary work so you’ll need to find somebody who is far more talented than the surgeon who did your first procedure.
Grafting fat into the area that was inappropriately treated with Liposuction is going to be challenging because that area is now devoid but has insufficient post tissue to support a sufficient amount of grafted fat.
Do you restore the volume to something that looks normal may require multiple procedures.
If you choose a surgeon who doesn’t have the skill or even fundamental understanding of what you should look like then there is a good chance a revision can easily make things worse.
Choosing the right provider in the first place is by far the most important decision.
I recommend patients do that by having multiple in person consultations at which time you should ask each provider to open up their entire portfolio and show you their entire collection before and after pictures. They should show you exclusively only pictures of previous patients who had similar body characteristics to your own.
Did you like the results of the before and after pictures the surgeon showed you?
This is most likely how this surgeon does all of his BBL procedures.
I’m guessing that doing liposuction of the outer upper thigh is probably standard operating procedure for how he or she feels the procedure should be done.
Personally I try to emphasize a smooth continuous S-curve that goes from the armpit to the knee creating a natural mood continuous feminine curve.
The process of finding someone to do revision work is more or less the same as finding someone for the primary procedure.
Generally the best surgeons are doing a revision work at the same ones who are the best of doing primary BBL.
In your case it’s very important that you have a good understanding of what the procedure is going to do and not do. this should’ve been discussed during your consultation. The surgeon should’ve told you exactly where they were going to emphasize change including adding fat and removing fat.
There are no non-surgical options that are going to make an impact
Revision surgery is much more difficult and primary surgery so you’re going to have to go out and try to find somebody who is really good at this procedure.
This requires having multiple in person consultations. You should come prepared for second opinion consultations with all your before and after pictures and a copy of your operative report. these are available from your current providers office if you request them.
Avoid virtual consultations whenever possible.
I highly recommend people avoid traveling long distances for elective surgical procedures.
Continue having consultations until you feel very comfortable that you found the right provider to help you with your revision work.
If the primary procedure was not done well then there are times where revisions are simply inherently limited and getting a quality outcome may require more than one procedure.
Simply being a board-certified plastic surgeon with overall good reputation and years of experience does not confirm if somebody has mastered either Liposuction or fat transfer.
During in person consultations ask each provider to open up their entire portfolio and show you all of their before and after pictures.
Providers may be apprehensive to do this and will instead want to show you their best results.
For reference an experience provider should have no difficulty showing you at least 50 set a before and after pictures of patients who had similar body characteristics to your own.
For revision of work providers will not have those type of numbers of patients who have similar body characteristics since revision of work tends to be far less common and very unique.
A combination of liposuction and grafting fat should be able to restore your contour to something much more appropriate.
The problem with grafting fat to areas previously treated with Liposuction is that the area is now devoid of sufficient host tissue making grafting fat far less successfully. Perhaps a little technical. The bottom line is you need to find someone who is more talented than your first provider and has a really good understanding of what the female torso should look like.
The number of plastic surgeons to do this type of work well on a consistent basis and that’s the ability to make accurate predictions based on quality assessments is relatively few.
To find them requires generally having quite a few consultations.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD