My butt keeps shrinking after a BBL, what can I do to avoid further shrinking?

There are two stages of shrinking of the buttocks right after the fat grafting to the buttocks.

Right after surgery not only has the fat been added, but there's a great deal of soft tissue swelling.  Much of this soft tissue swelling will resolve in about 3 to 6 weeks, that's only the beginning.

The second phase of shrinkage occurs as the body decides how much of the fat that has been injected will take on a new blood supply be maintained. Fat that does not take on blood supply from the surrounding tissues will ultimately be absorbed by your body, and this can take 6 to 12 months.

Do not be discouraged yet, what you're going through is  a part of the normal healing process.  Areas where the fat has been removed will also be shrinking as well and this can help to accentuated the areas where the fat has been placed.

Because a certain percentage of the fat is reabsorbed after surgery most surgeons will overcorrect from the get go.  If , after a year, you feel that you need more enhancement, additional fat grafting can likely be performed.

Best wishes

 

The shrinkage you're experiencing in the first 3 weeks is due to resolving edema (swelling) after any surgery, including BBLs! The next few months will have additional "shrinkage" due to an expected reabsorption of approximately 30% of the fat that was transferred. There is no way to affect these two parts of the healing process even if you follow your surgeon's directions perfectly.

Hello and thank you for your question. 3 weeks after surgery this "shrinking" is likely a combination of two factors: some of the transferred fat in BBL does not survive and postoperative swelling gradually resolves with time in the first few weeks. We expect approximately 60% of transferred fat to survive, and this is affected by many things. Luckily it sounds like you are diligently following postoperative instructions. Just be sure to also avoid extreme heat or cold and to avoid any substances that may decrease blood flow to the surgical site such as excessive amounts of caffeine or any nicotine including second-hand. That and making sure that you are eating a balanced diet are the only things that I would add to the things you are doing postoperatively.

I try to advise my BBL patients that everyone experiences postoperative swelling. The first week postoperatively, when you have all of the transferred fat and your body is swelling because of the surgery, is when you are most swollen. Gradually this swelling goes down with time. I would expect around 6 weeks postop is when you can see the permanent new shape of your body. At three weeks your body is still healing and changing. Your surgeon likely fat grafted as much as was safely possible at the time of surgery. Best of luck.