BBL with Dr. Salama (Male Patient) - Miami, FL

I met Dr Salama and his incredibly helpful team today.

All the wonderful team whom I'd been corresponding with for months, I finally got to meet. Each of them, so welcoming and so warm. It was like a dream. And a part of me still wonders if I've actually reached Miami at all, and not just day-dreaming back in London on the nightbus.

Working two jobs each day, with a 3 hour powernap between and only Sundays off, for almost 2 years, has compromised my mental health slightly... I suppose you do any horrendous thing long enough and you inevitably give a little bit of yourself up. The journey here has been tough, and although I should be clicking my heels together in joy and screaming "I made it!", quite truthfully the ringing in my ears from the nightmare hasn't subsided yet for me to enjoy myself and entirely relaxed. I'm grateful though, and I'm impressed with myself for getting here. Tired as I am, I can muster optimism for whatever my BBL results will look like. Results aside, the future can be fun again for me, and EASIER now I got to the finish line.

My biggest panic had been that I might not have enough fat reserves for Dr Salama to grant me the backside that I dreamt of. He assured me however that I had more than enough fat and not to worry. I joked that however large he made my backside, I would never be happy and never be content because in my mind it could never be big enough and we shared a laugh. It was nice being that honest, and a relief not to hide the obsession from him.

He shared something quite insightful with me about the amount of cc's all us RealSelfers spend our time fantasising an excellent surgeon will give us...

He reminded me that we only have so many blood vessels that feed fat and if in theory he could give someone 1800 cc's per cheek at once... the likelihood that fat would survive and not suffer necrosis was so high it made the whole process counter active to wanting a larger butt in the first place. It put things in perspective. I still, fingers secretly crossing behind my back as we talked, wished for the coveted 1000+ per cheek. I was too polite to press him, though through humour feel I made my position clear.

Dr Salama was not what I expected. And I told him as much. When someone's reputation is so impressive, when the photographic results on RealSelf for this man's incredible work send us all in a spin... I thought he would be a distant and stern doctor, an ego perphaps to match the great talent. He wasn't. He was much younger than his photos let on, a most beautiful smile and bright engaging eyes. It was a pleasure to speak to him, he was gentle and let me give him my input. I felt unusally comfortable.

So tomorrow morning, he's going to work his magic on my behind. I'm also having male chest reduction and chin lipo as two extras. I can only imagine it will be very difficult for me to move for the first few days. I'm a little anxious, but when everything has been explained to me so clearly and the team at Elite Plastic Surgery are so helpful, how can I fail?

I feel relief. I know this BBL journey is just beginning, but after the disappointment of my first BBL in Spain, and the 2 years of poverty and social suicide that have afforded me this new chance, I feel relief to say goodbye to a rotten chapter in my life and celebrate whatever Salama can do with his famous skill.

5 years ago, it was his work on RealSelf that I fell in love with. I never imagined a guy from a grotty neighbourhood in North London could ever get to Miami, let alone walk barefoot on the white sand, while thinking over his consultation with one of, if not the, most famous BBL surgeon. I wish I could find that button for happiness inside me, as I know I should be cartwheeling with excitement right now but for whatever reason I'm not. I suppose when you get so used to hard work, you start to self-condition yourself against disappointment and obstacles. I will be happy looking over my shoulder at the results, perhaps that's when it will hit me. 5 years, and a few false starts, although I took the long way round, I did get here in the end didn't I?

Anyway, give me a few days to get myself together and I will post a before and after photo with some information regarding cc's. I will then follow on with a post-surgery 6 month update and the final post-surgery 1 year update.

Once again, thank you RealSelf, and to all who read.

I'm a 33 year old male from London, UK. Having already had a sub-standard BBL...

I am planning now on having a second BBL, this time, with Dr Salama in Miami, in January 2016.

I dont know what to expect, as Salama's reputation is stellar and yet I know that my virgin fat reserves may have already been wasted on the sub-standard BBL procedure in Spain 2 years ago.

I had my first BBL with Dr. Aslani at Cirumed in Spain. I was extremely disappointed with his work. The results presented on his website are wonderful and as the only seemingly legitimate BBL surgeon in Europe, the decision was not a hard one to initially make. Sadly I put convenience over solid reviews. At the time, there were none on RealSelf and ignorance is bliss. To further my stupidity... I was scared to fly across the Atlantic for 8 hours, worried about sitting on my results - So I decided then on Dr. Aslani in Spain.

After 5 months of recovery, the swelling had completely gone. And sadly, so had my results. Genuniely, my buttocks looked the same as before I spent all that money. My waist was smaller, my flanks were non existent. But where was the butt we had discussed? Now I'm not a rich person, and working two jobs for a year to save was a nightmare. Genuinely, a nightmare. Although Dr. Aslani had given me aggressive lipo on my flanks (at my insistence) and moderate lipo to my tummy, I had not paid for a Brazilian Flank Lift... Or a Brazilian Tummy Lift. It should have all been about the butt! I gained so much weight for a surgery, spent so much money on it... for nothing. There is no change to my buttocks and to even call his procedure a "BBL" seems laughable. In retrospect, it was glorified body-sculpting and I am still very sad those precious fat cells were wasted. What's more, I had to accept the non-butt would get even smaller, as I had gained too much weight for the surgery and now had to resign myself to loosing it. Waste, waste, waste.

At first I thought I had been unlucky but as more and more RealSelf reviews emerged from Dr. Aslani patients, I realised that there is either an issue with the surgeon's skill or perhaps European law just doesn't allow for much fat to be transfered.

I know that Salama might not be able to grant me the donk I have always dreamed of, now that my precious fat cells have possibly been wasted but there are some RealSelf reviews were he seems to wave his magic fat-seeking wand and like a magician finds fat on seemingly fatless patients.

But back to reality - unless I try this, one last time - with one of the best doctors we know of... I will always be obsessed and tearful at what could have been.

So here I am, starting a new RealSelf journal. I am falling apart... physically and emotionally... In January 2016, I would have worked 2 jobs, each day, 6 days a week, for 1 year and 10 months. As soon as I realised how lack-lustre my first BBL results were I set about saving again, called the bar and asked for my evening job back! I have had zero social life, worn shoes with cardboard in them to cover the holes and the whole ordeal has been torture, all over again. Office-then-bar-then-4 hours sleep-office-then-bar-then-4 hours sleep-day in-day out. But I chose a bad surgeon because it was cheap and easy the first time. So I made a promise to myself that this time, nothing would be cheap and nothing could be easy. Whether or not I enter the Kingdom of Donk, at least I can say I REALLY tried this time.

Wish me luck, and I promise to share my review and continued photo updates.

Miami, here I come.