I am 5’7”, 165 pounds and my body fat is somewhere in the teens. How much body fat do I need? (Photos)

Thank-you for your question. There are no strict criteria for BMI requirements that are universally accepted for BBL procedures. The fat distribution is more important than the total amount of fat. Looking at your pictures, however, you do not seem to have enough fat to have a BBL at this time. In general, most of my patients undergoing BBL procedures range from 20 to 25 BMI and that may be the range for getting good results for you. Please find an experienced Board certified plastic surgeon who can help you with all your concerns. All the best!

Hi, thank you for sharing your question. Given your thin, athletic form, finding fat may be challenging, however, if you have fat in your flanks which contribute to the “square” shape, this can be liposuctioned. You can transfer the fat to the hips/buttocks to create more curvature. Without a formal examination, it’s difficult to say what plan is optimal for you.

In this regard, I recommend you waist and back Liposculpture, getting better curves especially in the waist, improving your body contour.

Finally, I suggested take the fat we get and transfer to the buttocks and hips, to mold them and get better volume, contour and butt projection, is that we know as "Brazilian Butt Lift" (BBL).

Kind regards,
Dr. Emmanuel Mallol Cotes.-

Dear LVsteph,
it is hard to tell for sure without an examination. 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

You will make great candidate for a transformation of your squape to an hourglass with transfer of fat from your waistline and entire back to the lateral hips. Please consider a virtual consultation with a high definition body contouring specialist so you can appreciate how VASER liposuction can help you make this happen.

Assassing how much fat can be harvested on low BMI patients is one of the most challenging aspects in plastic surgery.
I do not recommend anybody gain weight for the purpose of having fat transfer unless they plan on maintaining that weight for the rest of their life.
To get a quality assessment we need far better pictures or better yet have in person consultations with local board-certified plastic surgeons.
Previous liposuction and having had a tummy tuck limits fat that can be harvested. Secondary Liposuction typically delivers about 25% of the fat from a primary procedure but this varies based on how aggressive the first procedure was done. often the full back and under arm area is left untreated and these are excellent areas to treat to harvest fat for grafting. after that we typically look at extremities to harvest fat from in-low BMI patients. Both arms and inner thighs can contribute and can be included if needed in those who have insufficient amounts of fat on their torso. Delivering consistent quality liposuction and fat transfer results is more difficult than most people including plastic surgeons believe.
For that reason I recommend patience be very selective about choosing providers and pick the most experienced and talented provider in their community.
To do that I suggest having multiple in person consultations. During consultations ask each provider to show their entire collection of before and after pictures for this procedure.
For fat transfer make absolutely sure that after pictures were taken at least three months from the date of the procedure. early fat transfer results can look very impressive I do not at all represent final results.
Ask providers to show you as many pictures as possible of patients with similar body characteristics to your own.
And experience provider should have no difficulty showing you at least 50 sets of before and after pictures. Highly experienced providers will have hundreds or even thousands of before and after pictures to choose from.
Look carefully at the after pictures to see evidence of skin contour irregularities and ask the provider to differentiate areas that were treated versus areas that were not treated and look carefully at the transition zones between treated and untreated areas.
Different providers have different ideas of what looks good and how this procedure should be performed.
There’s a Tennessee by some providers to purposely liposuction the flyer in order to make the buttocks look large in comparison. These cartoon caricature outcomes are highly unnatural and in my opinion undesirable.
The final outcome should aim at creating a smooth continuous S-curve from the armpit to the knees.
In the end some people may not have enough fat to justify doing the procedure.
For those with a low BMI it’s better to include more areas in the treatment of liposuction rather than gaining weight for the procedure which gives no advantage unless you maintain the weight increase.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD

Your photos are unfortunately inadequate to assess the shape of the buttocks. But BBL surgery can do a lot to make the buttocks rounder and more shapely. you should consult with a Board Certified PS with lots of experience performing BBL surgery. Good luck!