Previously high WBC and now diagnosed with CLL - can I proceed with my Brazilian butt lift?

Dear Thrifty851508,
it is hard to tell for sure without an examination. You will need to get a clearance from your oncologist. If you are considering surgery, I would suggest you 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

If you can obtain from your hematologist a written medical clearance letter I would be OK to proceed with your lipo360/BBL. Do NOT expect if using a clinic for these clinics to approve you! Best to use private practice boarded Plastic Surgeons...

The first person to talk to it’s your hematologist. It sounds like you’ve done that but you will also need a letter of clearance and know if you need to stop or continue any medication‘s and I have specific instructions for anything that may be appropriate to alter for the procedure.
I’m going to guess that both doctors would want to see recent lab tests relatively close to the date of surgery. Each plastic surgeon will have their own view and CLL is one component included in making a final decision. There are also lots of other variables to take into consideration. For example are you even a good candidate for a BBL.
You didn’t include pictures so we can’t begin to make an assessment.
A BBL is two procedures done at the same time. One is liposuction and the other is grafting fat to the buttocks hips and sometimes thigh.
An individual may be a good candidate for a liposuction but not a good candidate for fat transfer. Someone could be a good candidate for fat transfer but not a good candidate for Liposuction. somebody could be a good candidate for either and somebody may not be a good candidate for both.
Understanding your candidacy and what can or cannot be a chief with the procedure is the plastic surgeon side of the story and that needs to be explored.
On top of that to get consistent quality results with this procedure requires finding a sufficiently skilled and experience provider.
Lots of plastic surgeons and doctors without plastic surgery training offer BBL procedures.
I’ve been a board-certified plastic surgeon for 22 years. The last 12 years of practice I’ve been devoted exclusively to doing only liposuction and fat transfer procedures.
I have answered well over 10,000 questions on real self about liposuction and fat transfer procedures and I’ve seen a lot of different results.
I’ve personally done over 8000 liposuction and fat transfer procedures in my career.
At this point my conclusion is that delivering consistent quality both Liposuction and fat transfer results is far more difficult than most people believe and this definitely includes most plastic surgeons.
A substantial number of board-certified plastic surgeons for the overall good reputation are not particularly good at liposuction or fat transfer.
A substantial number of providers also have very distorted views on what an attractive female body should look like.
Some seem to see the tree but missed a forest. There is unfortunately far too much substandard work being done and you should consider both Liposuction and fat to transfer to be permanent and irreversible operations. Recognize that if done poorly patients can become disfigured and once a bad outcome happens it’s almost impossible to improve on it.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of choosing an appropriate provider for this procedure. Being board-certified in plastics surgery with an overall good reputation is not sufficient to guarantee someone has mastered either Liposuction or fat transfer.
To find the right provider I recommend all patients have multiple in person consultations with local board-certified plastic surgeons whenever possible. Avoid traveling long distances if at all possible. I also recommend avoiding virtual consultations whenever possible.
During each consultation ask each provider to open up their portfolio and show you their entire collection of before and after pictures for the procedure you’re interested in. You need to screen the results based on both procedures both Liposuction and fat transfer.
Being shown a handful of sample pictures which most likely represent the best results of the providers career is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like in the hands of that provider or how many of these procedures they’ve actually performed.
And experience providers should have no difficulty showing you a minimum of 50 sets of before and after pictures of commonly performed procedures. Highly experienced surgeons will have hundreds or like in my case thousands of before and after pictures.
Have pictures taken of your own towards so the same way plastic surgeons take before and after pictures. Pictures should be taken standing in a neutral position showing your front, side and back side taken from about 8 feet away cropping the pictures to show your torso from your knees to your shoulders. Use the timer on your camera or have someone else take the pictures for you.
Don’t try to take pictures by holding your own telephone or using a mirror.
Make sure you wear undergarments that show almost all of your body skin. We can’t make an assessment on individuals wearing tight undergarments or unrevealing garments.
Bring those pictures with you during the consultation and use them as a reference pictures for finding other before and after pictures of patients who had similar body characteristics.
Show them to your surgeon and ask them to find as many pictures as possible of patients who had similar body characteristics to yourself. you should then ask them to show you examples of excellent outcomes, average outcomes and less than outcomes.
We all have a variety of outcomes and it’s fair game for patients to ask to see different quality outcomes.
You should also at this point talk about what the surgeons revision rate is meaning how many patients end up having a second procedure because the first operation didn’t get it the way they wanted it. You should also ask or at least be told what the revision policy is in regarding to who decides when revisions are indicated and if there will be fees involved or if the surgeon will cover the cost.
Surgeons are apprehensive to show you more than their preselected show and tell album should be encouraged to find more pictures. Lean on them and tell them that the number of pictures they show you is one of the major variables for how you decide what surgeon to choose.
Become very familiar with what BBL results look like by reviewing as many before and after pictures as you can on your own by just scrolling through the Internet. recognize that there are a substantial number of manipulated pictures floating around the Internet. Manipulation can be done by a whole host of individuals and there’s not always plastic surgeons trying to cheat with her before and after pictures. Sometimes it’s patients who manipulate pictures or use computer enhanced images to display wish pictures. also, early fat transfer results can look very impressive but do not at all represent final results. No one should show before and after pictures less than three months old for this procedure.
Ask your surgeon how long after surgery the pictures were taken.
Anybody who shows you immediate postop pictures as after pictures meeting the patient is still in the operating room or still in the recovery area with surgical markings still seen on the skin should be discounted immediately as showing you fake propaganda or false news type images. plastic surgeons will over graft on purpose and immediate postoperative results can look dramatic but these do not at all represent what the final outcome will look like.
Have a grading system in place for both Liposuction and fat transfer so you can differentiate quality outcomes. Practice this by looking at lots of plastic surgeons before and after pictures. This website has thousands to choose from. Learn to grade or rate results based on what you think looks like quality outcomes.
Try to focus on patients who have similar body characteristics to your own. Pay close attention to variables like skin laxity, bulging abdominal walls from previous pregnancies and the over amount of subcutaneous fat and body shape.
What is your familiar recognizing quality outcomes you can then score the results from each surgeon you interview with and compare from previous consultations.
I don’t know how many consultations someone may need to find the right provider but I would start with a minimum of five and continue scheduling more if you have any doubts whatsoever. depending on how many of the plastic surgeons do these procedures well and regularly in your community it may require many more consultations.
I do not recommend flying long distances to go to some specialty clinic in another state.
Sometimes traveling is necessary but you should keep the distances to within a distance where you can drive to have an in person consultation and drive back for all your follow up visits.
When reviewing Liposuction results look very carefully at all areas treated to make sure there are no skin contact irregularities anywhere on any treated area. Ask the surgeon to review the pictures with you asking them what areas were treated and what areas were not treated. for abdominal liposuction ask for example what is the entire back included? Was the under Armour armpit area included was the lower back included etc. etc. look carefully at transition zones between treated and untreated areas and see if it looks natural. Personally I view the torso as a single anatomic unit and prefer to do liposuction of the entire torso if I’m going to do liposuction on any part of it. A full torso includes upper abdomen, lower abdomen, love handles, waist, entire back and under arm all the way to the side of the breast.
The final and goal of the procedure should be to create a perfect balanced feminine S-curve that goes from the armpit all the way to the knee. There are unfortunately some providers who do everything in their power to try to create the biggest possible but ducks possible including Liposuction of the upper thigh destroying the potential of having a smooth harmonious feminine S-curve. provider to do this create cartoon caricatures like outcomes that are unattractive and highly undesirable. I sometimes refer to that look as the lollipop look.
Ask yourself if the results look natural and beautiful. is it a body shape that you’ve ever seen someone have in real life?
Make sure you view the results and judge them from all angles.
Obviously during the in person consultation you’ll have an opportunity to review your medical history. Having with you a letter from your hematologist may be helpful or you’ll simply have to go back and get a letter of clearance. if the surgeon does not want to do your procedure then you can ask them firsthand what their apprehension is and what their concerns are.
Continue having consultations until you found the most talented experienced and appropriate provider for your needs. When in doubt slow down and schedule more consultations.
If plastic surgeons consistently have concerns about doing a BBL or recommend other procedures then you should listen to them.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD