How NOT to have a successful BBL

My relationship with my results, and the clarity that the passing months have given me have forced to me to re-evaluate what I think about my results. I am not happy, and regret going to this surgery.

I almost feel like a fraud. Sharing pictures that I knew weren't really representing what I could see at other angles, and white-washing the fears I was feeling with an optimism that just hasn't paid off.

Fear of travelling across the Atlantic, and impatience at needing more money for North American surgery lead me to Spain. Their website provides great before and afters, thrilling to look through when you are wanting to change your body. Their friendly manner and professionalism second to none, but did I get a 'Brazilian Butt Lift'? No.

I am not 'butt obsessed', I was never kidding myself that without implants I could have the projection of Kim Kardassian, but what I did want was a lot of volume in my rear after surgery, I wanted my bottom to be bigger and most, to have some visual impact. I honestly feel my bottom is exactly the same size as it was before (and with a humble 650 cc administered, and with the usual 20-30 percent fat absorption rate, you can understand even without looking at pictures why I would be left disappointed).

For three months post-bbl, I had a lot of swelling, and not much of an appetite in the tight garments. I felt thin, and my bottom felt pronounced. This was soon to change.

It is my humble belief (studying the hundreds of reviews on this website) that I did have enough fat initially, for more dramatic results. Results that a more skilled pair of hands could have grafted. I know Dr Aslani is hesitant to give people 'comedic results'. But the universal theme of people going in for BBL seems to be 'The bigger the better'. I also know there are legal limits to how much fat you are allowed to administer within the UK, and I would guess European doctors are bound to this as well. So whether it is the Doctor's personal taste, or a legal strait-jacket, I do not believe this surgery in Spain is truly representing itself correctly. You will get world-class body sculpting, but "Brazilian Butt Lift' as defined by how most would understand it? No.

I worked two jobs 6 days a week for a year, to save up the money I needed for this surgery. It was tortured, but a torture that was comforted by the results and promises made on the Cirumed website. I worked hard, and paid what to me is a lot of money, and expected results which were representative of the phrase "Brazilian Butt Lift" which they have plastered across their website. I have very little in terms of flanks, my belly is flatter than it has ever been... But I did not spent $7000+ for a 'Brazilian Flank Lift', or a 'Brazilian Belly Lift'.

Dr Aslani's style is boxish and the buttock curve will start higher up on the body than most surgeons, starting from the waist, giving more flacid pear-shape, hippy in appearance, but not 'apple'. Where as Jimerson or Salamah style is more 'peachy' with the butt starting lower, causing it to 'pop' more. But these visual nuances aside, the reviews on this website seem to have a consistent theme of people being unhappy with volume they are getting (or not as the case seems to be) from this Dr. Aslani.

The tragedy is, however much back-fat you are left with, and however hard you struggle to pile on a few extra pounds for a Round 2 - You will NEVER enjoy the impact you had from a Round 1 again. When I comfort myself with the prospect of maybe one day being able to afford a 'Round 2', I quickly have to remind myself that those large fat deposits just don't exist anymore, and would a $11,000 Jimerson surgery be justified for what might essentially ending up being a glorified 'revision' with not much visual change.

A tragedy.

It is so important to pick a doctor who not only has results and 'promises' on the website, but has a wealth of photographic evidence on sites like RealSelf from unbiased patients sharing their results. My doctor did not have this, and I took a chance. And since then, RealSelf has more Cirumed patients sharing their results, and non of them seem representative of the results we see on their website, and more alarming, almost all of them seem unhappy and immediately speak of a Round 2.

If I had continued to keep my head down, and tortured myself working two jobs for 6 more months, I would afforded to go to Salamah or Jimerson or Fisher.

Sure, if I am 'butt obsessed' and in denial, I would still perhaps have not been content had I gone to America. But with the general consensus in the States being '1000+ ccs' on average for a Round 1 patient, I would have found some comfort in knowing my buttocks (projection or not) would have been visually a lot bigger. A comfort I sadly do not have after Cirumed in Spain. I had aggressive lip on my flanks and the curve in my back draws more attention to my buttocks at certain angles, but are my buttocks bigger in size? No. Just No.

Now - I am committed to weight lifting, deep squats with a large amount of weight will break-down the glutes and the muscle fibres re-heal between workouts and get bigger and bigger (you will not achieve this from polite squats with tiny barbells ladies!) but I am very sad that my chances to increase my butt size was, in my mind, wasted on uninspired surgery.

Think big, take big chances. Don't apologise for your dreams.

I continue to dream that a Round 2 state-side with a clever surgeon will grant me 800 ccs somewhere in the future. But it is a dream, and the reality might be that at the weight I am happy with, I will never have enough fat to make enough of an impact to justify the cost (and hard work!) of a future Round 2.

I feel like my precious fat has been wasted, poured down a drain. I don't doubt my Doctor did all he could...

But are there other Doctors in the world who could of done differently? OF COURSE! Will they all be moody curmudgeons who intimate us? OF COURSE! But it's easy to click on 'recent reviews' on this lovely site, and see very quickly that there are some genuinely positive results. Everyone complains, everyone has 'butt greed' but a large amount of people made the right choices with the surgeons they went to and have substantial, non-negotiable visual results.

Clearly, America is where it's at.

And Spain? The poor man's choice.

It's fair to say Dr. Aslani's work has pretty much changed my life. There's a dramatic difference in my body, and the confidence I now have in clothes too. Summer was a lot of fun. Shorts, parks, shorter shorters, water-fights, tighter shorts, and plenty of compliments. Exciting to get attention, and exciting to feel my body is closer to what I want it to feel like. Although I am still chasing my dream of securing a big, oversized, earth-shatteringly large rump - The good doctor's careful, nuanced work has not only given me bigger buttocks, but ZERO flanks (even after weight gain, you literally can't pinch an inch on my flanks) and as a result of the small waist, his work has brought out the progress I'd made at the gym on my back, shoulders and traps over the last 10 years. Overall, I'm happy. I want to share a few important insights, and will talk about where I go from here.

So, first off - apologies for missing my 3 month update, and as I'm posting now at 5 months, it looks like I'll probably be missing my 6 month update too and instead posting again around the 9 month mark, and then of course, the all important '12 months later' post, which I promise however busy life gets - I will post no matter what, for my assessment a year on after having this exciting, nerve-racking surgery. Does it really work? Will the fat be retained a year on? You hear all this crazy horror stories - I want to disprove them to badly!

It surprises me how long it's taken to get my head around what BBL is, how fat works, what the trade-offs are for the patient, etc. I had done around 2 years worth of research, read everything, scrutinised every review and case I could find, but it was only until I was having to ask specific questions about my own healing process that I finally managed to grasp those missing pieces of the puzzle. Now, when I read other peoples reviews and updates, I impress myself with how quick I can diagnose and come up with a solution to what they are complaining about. Are my results perfect? No. Am I a photo on a magazine cover? No. Can my fat act like implants at stick up in the air like balloons? No. Should I do serious squats with heavy weights to built up my glutes underneath? YES.

One piece of advice we've all been given over and over again is, 'keep your weight consistent after a BBL'. Once the swelling had gone down, my buttocks weren't has large as I had hoped for. BUTT GREED sets in. Now, to be clear - Dr. Aslani gave me 650cc in each cheek, my skin was tight, and he said this on a few occasions, assuring his greedy patient that that was the maximum he could give me. So around the 3 month mark, I decided 'not so subconsciously' (haha) to eat more, to see where now I would gain weight, A very small bit on my stomach, a tiny bit on my lower back, quite a bit on my chest (CRY, I'm a guy!) and YES, with the difference of 10 pounds in weight, a month and two weeks on, it really has created a visible difference in my ass size. And quite honestly... I love it! But let's hold our horses - the trade-off is... My back and my stomach don't look as neat as they might have done had I kept a consistent weight. The Dr sculpts you, he creates a masterpiece - but then because we are greedy, we try to f*ck about with it. There are people on this site complaining about lumps, and about folds when they twist their back to the side, and a lot of the time, I suspect it's because the person has gained weight.

Now at close to 13 stone, I can't get any heavier. It would just be unhealthy and stupid. My neck has started to show it, and much to my sadness, my chest has gained some fat on it. But again, I want a big, crazy sized rump - and that is all the trade-off.

5 months back... I couldn't have more fat injected into my buttocks, as my skin was tight. If I were to have a round 2 now, as my ass has expanded, and the skin stretched a little, I could have more lipo (which the doctor said he was happy to consider after 6 months) then presumably I could put more fat into my ass, the wonder of the BBL, built it up even more. However - we would be moving the fat, if my neck and chest aren't going to get lipo-ed... (both of which are totally different operations!) I would still have manboobs, and a double-chin right? So again, this is what I mean about the trade-off. BBL is not an implant, it isn't as simple as moving fat around, you need to be 'fat' enough to have that fat to move, and fat enough to maintain it. Did I get my head around this 2 years ago? No. How could I?

My advice: Perhaps be realistic about your size, your build, and going into the surgery at a certain weight and maintaining your results (and having less size) is better than gaining more weight after surgery having a bigger ass, but a lumpy and inconsistent body. The devil that is 'butt greed'.

If I do have Round 2. It will be with Dr. Aslani. I don't know if there is a medical condition with getting attached to your doctor, but I must have it! I will sound like a madman, but all I can do is praise the doctor and his team, again and again. I was accused in one private message of working for the clinic. I really don't! I have my own job in London, and had to save up a great deal of money to have my BBL. I just know that any of the shortcomings I have felt after surgery are to do with my own misinformed expectations - fat isn't an implant. I asked for 'huge proportions' and the doctor, with the amount of fat he could put in, (I think) concentrated on my width - while he did tell me before surgery, most men are concerned with projection, the doctor worked his magic for me in the manner I specified. When I asked for aggressive lipo to my flanks, he showed some concern about what he felt would result in a feminine hour-glass shape. I heard him out, and then repeated what it was I wanted! ... and he proceeded with my request. The results I have today are because of conversations we had, and the joint decisions we made. If I had been happy to give up my fantasy of having a 'large ass' then I am sure I might have been able to secure more projection, with a smaller overall backside.

Now there is great width, which was pleasantly surprising, but not a huge deal of projection. So hungry for more, I will absolutely consider a Round 2. My mission now is to find Before & Afters for Round 2s. To go through the process for a minimal change would be a shame right?

One thing I do know is I am absolutely supported by the clinic, by the doctor, and I feel extremely lucky to be on this journey with them. If people think I work for them, etc - then so be it. I spent ALL day trying to recreate the lighting, the colour, the positions and subtle angles of my original 'before' pictures taken in Malaga, Spain 5 months ago because I wanted to create brilliant side-by-side comparisions for RealSelf, not for anyone else. I love Dr. Aslani's work, and his amazing team and clinic - but my biggest love, and loyalty is for the people who want a BBL and are trying in earnest to get informed. I want to provide consistent updates and provide accurate photos of my progress. Just because someone can construct a sentence and knows how to spell doesn't make it a fake profile. Anyway friends, enjoy results...

And needless to say, I want to hear what you think as honestly as you can. Good or bad, I want your opinions.

Realself is by far the best site for sharing photos of your results, but sometimes I feel that isn't really saying much. I see there's a new incentive ("win an iPhone 6!") for uploading videos, but I just wish they would tackle the problem of lack of photos before we got ahead of ourselves with anything more complicated! A lot of posters here seem really misguided with how important photographic evidence is - which is shocking to me - when visuals are the very basis of cosmetic surgery! I'm sure like me you've trawled through 30-40 text-only reviews to finally find the one poster brave enough to share any photos. More annoyingly, the posters who do share wonderful photos, will suddenly pull them down as they get spooked by stories of hackers or the most depressing one... "My boyfriend told me to take down my pics." (Regarding hackers: As someone who knows a lot about computers I wish I could tell them... Assuming this fantasy madman found your boring and anonymous photo of scarred buttocks desirable, to find you in the real world he would need your IP address, and that's something he could ONLY get if he hacked the RealSelf site itself, this has never happened, and RealSelf will be hosted on a big high-security server, if server or site were jeopardised the owners would shut them down immediately. It's just preposterous that someone would ever go to that kind of insane trouble over a crummy photo, when they have Xtube at their disposal).

In my humble opinion, if you crop your head, and pose against a clean wall - all you are doing is helping other people. But I suspect many aren't really here to help others make their decisions, it's more about them validating their own journey perhaps?. The reason I'm posting this little tirade is because earlier today I spent a great deal of time recreating my original poses taken in the hospital 5 months ago. I realised for the first time how important angles are, how so many people here are taking photos from a subtle 'below the buttock' view, which inevitably makes the arse look more plump than it might look in real life. I realised that I could have actually been making my butt look a lot more impressive on this site, so took a few photos, with the camera just below the line of my buttocks and am sharing them now for fun... These results however aren't what normal people see when I'm queueing up in line at the grocery store (unless they've dropped some loose change on the floor that is). We should be honest about how successful our surgery, not push our asses out and curve our backs and have our legs together... Realself should encourage posters with templates and tutorials! We all need to try and make the ugliest, and most unflattering pose - with the camera looking down at the butt from a slightly elevated position (like the human eye would do...) If your ass is still big, the projection still there, then you know you've achieved good results. Rant over!