Butt Implant Removal: What You Need to Know

Pros

• Removal of the implants can relieve a host of complications from silicone implants. 
• Depending on your skin’s elasticity, you could have little to no sagging. 
• Scars should be minimal, since incisions are usually well-hidden in the butt crease. 
• Butt implant removal recovery is shorter and easier than recovery from the original buttock augmentation surgery. 

Cons

• Many plastic surgeons don’t perform this surgical procedure, so it may be difficult to find a qualified provider in your area. 
• You may not be happy with the size and shape of your butt after implant removal.
• About 20% of butt implant removal patients develop a seroma (a buildup of fluid) during the recovery period. Other wound healing complications, like infection, are also possible.

• Average Cost:
• $8,100

• Range:
• $2,000 - $12,000

Your cost will depend on your plastic surgeon’s level of experience and practice location. Other factors include your implants’ position, any complications, and whether you want them replaced.

The surgery itself takes about an hour. It’s usually performed as an outpatient procedure (meaning you’ll be able to head home afterward) in a hospital or surgicenter, under general anesthesia. You’ll be groggy when you wake up, so be sure to have someone there to safely take you home.

Once you’re fully unconscious, your surgeon will make incisions in the same sites that were used for the insertion. Then they’ll remove your implants, leaving the capsule of scar tissue that naturally forms around them. 

“There’s absolutely no research data supporting removing the capsule when removing buttock implants, especially if no capsular contracture exists,” says Dr. Stanton. “There is a significantly increased risk of bleeding and hematoma and [therefore] a significant increase in scar tissue when attempting to do so. Additionally, removing the capsule—aka a capsulectomy—more than doubles the time and cost of the procedure.” 

Once the implants are removed, the incisions will be closed with sutures. Drains will likely be put in to remove excess fluid buildup during recovery. Even with drains added, about 20% of patients go on to form a seroma, says Dr. Stanton. “These seromas aren’t dangerous, but they may require needle aspiration anywhere from one to five times,” says Dr. Stanton.

“Recovery is a breeze, with minimal pain, compared to putting them in,” says Dr. Stanton. You should be able to head back to work within five to seven days, much less than the two weeks of recovery after butt implant surgery.

You’ll be able to sit for short periods (20–30 minutes), with minimal pain. Sitting on a bed pillow or donut-shaped BBL pillow can be helpful. 

Most patients have surgical drains for two to four weeks. As the incisions heal, avoid lower-body squatting-type exercises for nearly six weeks.

Your surgeon may also recommend that you wear a compression garment for part of your recovery period, to help minimize swelling and other side effects.

If you’ve had large implants in place for several years and your skin doesn’t have great elasticity, you may have sagging after the implants have been removed. This can be corrected with a buttock lift. 

Dr. Ryan Stanton, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California who specializes in buttock augmentation, says that many patients have little or no sagging after buttock implant removal, especially if the placement of their implants was intramuscular (under the muscle). “Sagging is more likely when the patient has had relatively large implants placed on top of, instead of under, the gluteus maximus muscle, the patient has had implants in for more than five years, and the patient is more than 50 years old.” 

If your implants were in for only a few years and your skin still has good elasticity, your buttocks should return to near their normal size and shape within a few weeks, says Chicago plastic surgeon Dr. Gregory Wiener in a RealSelf Q&A. “There will be a period where the skin and soft tissues contract, so it may not be immediate. Over a few weeks to several months—depending on how long the implants were in and your natural tissue elasticity—things will improve.” 

In other good news for your bottom line (so to speak), Dr. Wiener says that “if the implants were in for six months or more, there’s usually a permanent expansion of the tissues, with some permanent increase in buttock size despite the implants being removed.” 

Another plus for not removing the scar tissue that naturally encased the implants: “Leaving it behind often leaves the patient with a larger natural size than before putting them in and usually doesn’t affect the comfort of the patient,” says NYC plastic surgeon Dr. Dougas Senderoff in a RealSelf Q&A.

One RealSelf member who had her implants removed after eight years feels like her butt looks a bit droopy, but she’s still pleased with the result. “I’m so glad I decided to remove them, despite my fears of how my butt may look after removal. I kept picturing a deflated basketball and skin flapping down to my legs, but it’s not like that at all,” reported Forevabeautiful_12.

Problematic butt implants can be replaced with new ones, but you’ll need to wait six months in order to let your body heal before having another procedure. “This gives the tissues enough time to soften and become pliable enough to accept a new implant,” says Dr. Stanton.