Hello, thank you for your questions regarding PMMA injections into your buttocks. Unfortunately, PMMA, hydrogel, silicone and many other countless products are still being injected illegally every day around the world. Like you, most patients do not know even what has been injected. In my 20 year experience as a board certified plastic surgeon, I have seen many strange things injected like cement, tire sealant, crazy glue, and even caulking materials. THE PROBLEM: The problem is a foreign body was injected. In your case, this was may have been PMMA. Your body views this PMMA as a foreign body and makes scar tissue around it in an attempt to wall it off (much like an embedded splinter of wood). Once the PMMA or silicone is contained, your body is content for a while. However, over time your body tries to push this material from your body. Your skin rushes blood to the area to assist in expelling the PMMA or foreign body. This is evidenced by the red or purple circles on your butt. Sometimes the blood spills out from your capillaries and can permanently stain your skin. This blood spilling from the capillaries is called hemosiderin. Unfortunately, your body cannot expel the PMMA, and the internal scarring and subsequent skin staining just get worse. To make matters worse, the excessive scar tissue can make granulomas, which over time can turn into cancer. THE SOLUTION: You can treat the skin all you want, but the purple will remain unless you remove the causes or source. In this case, the source is the PMMA. I do not believe micro-needling will help because micro-needling will not remove the source problem, namely the PMMA. In my experience, there are only two solutions to remove the PMMA or silicone from your buttock. If you have a mild amount of buttock scar tissue, I would suggest intra-operative, ultra-sound guided, VASER-assisted, Power Assisted Liposuction. During ultra-sound guided, VASER-assisted, Power Assisted Liposuction, the PMMA or silicone is identified and isolated with the ultra-sound. Then, the VASER melts the scar tissue around the PMMA and silicone. Then, using powered assisted liposuction, PMMA, silicone, and scar are removed. If you have more extensive buttock scarring, and there is PMMA or silicone throughout your buttock, you may need direct excision. Depending on where the PMMA or silicone is on your buttock, you may either need an incision across the top of the buttock or under the buttock. During their silicone removal procedure, a substantial amount of PMMA, silicone, and scar tissue is removed under direct visualization. I hope that I have answered your question regarding what to do about removing PMMA from your purple stained buttocks. When researching for the appropriate plastic surgeon, please seek a plastic surgeon certified by American Board of Plastic Surgery and has extensive experience in removing PMMA, silicone, and other products from the buttocks, breasts, face, and thighs. Travel out of state if you must to find such an expert. If you have any more questions regarding PMMA or silicone removal from the buttock or other body parts, please contact my office. Sincerely Dr. Katzen. (Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and member of the American Society Plastic Surgeons, International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, and American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery.)
