What's the Maximum Amount of Fat That Can Be Safely Harvested to Perform a BBL?

First find a lab that is FDA approved for fat storage, and they will have a figure for you. Thank you for your question and good luck.

Hi there-

There is no legal limit on what can be removed during the liposuction portion of your Brazilian Butt Lift.

On the other, hand, most experienced, ethical, and safe plastic surgeons are in agreement that your safety would require limiting the aspiration to less than 4 liters of fat- unless there are plans to admit you to a hospital for the initial recovery period.

Rest assured, however, that this is a LOT of fat, and that in my experience, assuming you have this much fat available for removal, chances are that what actually limits the amount grafted will not be how much can be removed, but how much can be grafted and expected to survive.

There is a limit to avoid complications after any liposuction technique. It is well established in the plastic surgery literature that 5-6 liters is what is considered a safe liposuction. During a Brazilian butt lift, I inject a fluid called tumescence solution. This solution helps control the bleeding and also pain and discomfort. Typically, the fluid that is removed only 30 – 40 % is fat; the rest is blood, saline, and medications. For a Brazilian butt lift, I generally inject 6-7 liters of fluid prior to liposuction. I remove a similar amount of fat and fluid but only about 2 liters is fat that can be used.


I routinely keep the patient for 24hrs for observation. There are lots of fluid changes  that can rarely cause problems.

Generally speaking, you don't want to remove more than 5 liters of fat (in an outpatient setting) during a fat transfer procedure. From that amount you may only get 1.5-2 liters of pure fat this is able to be reinjected; which is a large amount- about 750-1000cc per side. There is no maximum amount of fat  which can be removed, only guidelines. You should be evaluated by a board certified plastic surgeon to determine first if you are a good candidate and second, what the right amount of fat would be to get the best results in your particular case.

Best wishes,

Dr.Bruno

There is no maximum or minimum amount, but with my liposuction techniques, I never harvest anything less than 700 cc per side, with my maximum being between 1100CC to 1300 CC. That is based solely on the ability to do aggressive liposuction in teh donor areas that we work on. Also not every patient can get that amount if they truly don't have teh fat in donor areas to give, and that is when we discuss other areas such as arms to obtain additional fat.

I hope this helps.

Dr. Salama

The answer to your question is controversial. 5000 ml is the maximum I harvest as an out-patient (although my mentor who practically pioneered liposuction in America used to routinely harvest thousands and thousands more in in-patients). The real issue is how much will be transferred! I find that harvesting 5000 ml allows me to transfer as much as 1110 ml  (the most I have grafted) into each butt. My average is 800ml in each butt.  Putting 200 or 300 in is acceptable, I've done it. the problem with that is that my re-do rates were very high. Practically it's good to start off with small numbers, and work our way up. So see a board certified plastic surgeon in you area first, and make sure she or he have performed hundreds of these butt lifts. Nothing beats experience.

As a general rule, there is no maximum amount of fat that can or needs to be harvested for a braziian butt lift. In most buttock augmentation patients, it is usually more of an issue of whether one can get enough fat rather than taking too much. Given that the liposuctioned fat has to be prepared and concentrated, much more fat needs to be removed by volume than will actually be injected. Most buttock injections are in the range of 300cc to 600cc per side which translates into at least 2000cc to 2500cc must be aspirated from the donor areas.

There is no "Maximum" amount of fat that can be removed.  The issue and real question is.... how much fat can be safely removed from "Your" body?  That volume may vary from one patient to another, depending on health issues. It also should vary depending on whether the procedure is being done in your surgeon's office vs in a hospital as well as whether you are spending the night in the hospital or not. 
The goal is to get a great result, but to do it as safely as possible.

The most important decision that needs to be made when undertaking surgery is what we can do safely. Liposuction is a procedure with a maximal removal of tissues so that your body will tolerate the "fluid shifts" that occur during and after the surgery. Normally this is somewhere between 5-6 liters removed. Some surgeons will remove more, but most of this occurs when a patient is staying overnight under professional supervision. Most BBL will inject 500-750 cc per buttock. Thus, the most one would need would be approximately 2000 cc of fat.  Well below the safe limit for liposuction.

Best of luck!

The range for large volume fat transfer to the buttocks is about 800 cc. to get to that volume one needs a total volume of liposuction aspirate to be 3000-4000 cc.