If you plan to have a Brazilian Butt Lift, the information in this article is something that could, quite literally, save your life.
While scary statistics and stories of women who have passed away during Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) surgery are the very last things that those who are planning to have the surgery want to hear, they’re too important not to share with you.
Brilliant surgeons and doctors have invented over 30 unique plastic surgery procedures to alter or improve nearly every part of the body and the Brazilian Butt Lift–if done incorrectly–still remains one of the most likely plastic surgery procedures to kill you.
Let’s put this in the simplest terms possible: It would take work to kill a patient during a facelift. In a BBL, all it takes is an accident. A very specific accident, with a very specific preventative solution.
Does your surgeon know what that is? Do you?
Death occurs due to what is called a fat embolism: Fat that should be injected into the existing soft tissue of your buttocks is instead accidentally injected into a blood vessel in your butt, and it travels to the heart or lungs. This most often occurs (when it does) while the patient is still on the operating table, but can occur within 24-48 hours of the procedure.
The reaction is that fast. Fatty tissue clogs the heart or lungs, and the patient dies.
But it only ever occurs (in all cases known thus far), when a surgeon injects too deeply, beneath the gluteal muscles, rather than in only the superficial planes of the fatty tissue.
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Butt are BBLs Really That Deadly?
Social media does an incredible job of showing us beautiful women who have undergone a Brazilian Butt Lift, even in 2022. Yes, the procedure is still widely performed–very widely, and all across the United States.
Is it possible to have a safe Brazilian Butt Lift? Absolutely.
You as a patient play a huge part in that, and there is a very, very simple thing you can do to greatly, greatly reduce your odds of dying during a Brazilian Butt Lift.
Typing these words makes me as uneasy as it probably does you to read them. Again, they have to be shared. Patients need to know.
Do they need to live in fear? No. Alright, maybe a little. Slight fear and a healthy dose of caution and due diligence are a lot better than the total loss of life. It can happen. It has happened.
To avoid Death by BBL, seek out a board-certified plastic surgeon for your procedure. That’s the tip.
1 Death in 3,000 BBLs is Outdated, Inaccurate
A study done in July 2017 noted that the death rate for the Brazilian Butt Lift was 1-2 deaths for every 6,000 BBLs performed, making it the most deadly elective cosmetic surgery procedure available.
However, while the BBL is an extremely demanding procedure that may still end up causing a patient’s death that particular study was subsequently determined not entirely accurate.
That same year (2017), the American Society of Plastic Surgeons issued new recommendations to help make the procedure safer: “Gluteal Fat Grafting Advisory.”
By 2019, with cosmetic and plastic surgeons implementing these new protocols, a review of new data spanning the ensuing two years discovered that the mortality rate had decreased to 1 death for every 14-20,000 BBL surgeries performed, essentially by anyone doing the procedure.
1 Death in 14,952 is Accurate for Some Surgeons
Even better, board-certified plastic surgeons had an even lower rate of patient mortality: a highly-regarded research foundation found that deaths from the BBL procedure were actually 1 death in 14,952 BBLs performed.
This new data suggested that, when performed by a board-certified plastic surgeon, the Brazilian Butt Lift was safer than a traditional tummy tuck,or abdominoplasty, which has a reported mortality rate of 1 in 13,193 procedures performed.
Life-Saving BBL Advice: How to Find a BBL Surgeon
To find a BBL surgeon that can provide you the results you want without the potential serious adverse reaction or death, follow these tips carefully. These tips should form only part of your due diligence.
- Verify that your surgeon is board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.
- Verify that your surgeon is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
- Never go to a “plastic surgeon” that isn’t one: Even pediatricians can offer “plastic surgery.” Again, this means verifying credentials.
- Avoid discount surgery at all costs. If thousands of dollars are being “saved,” it is always because thousands of dollars of safety precautions and standards are being ignored.
- Diligently search your doctor’s name on Google before scheduling your surgery.
- Diligently search the name of the practice you will be going to before scheduling your surgery.
- If the practice you are planning to have surgery at does not allow you to personally meet your surgeon beforehand, don’t go there. That is a massive, massive red flag. Avoid at all costs.
- Do not visit another country (namely, Mexico, as it’s where numerous BBL deaths have occured) for this procedure. The cost savings aren’t worth it and the distance and unfamiliarity with the area only complicate matters and make your ability to know exactly what you are getting into nearly impossible.
- Ignore the number of followers someone has on social media: Look at results only, and assume only the very best are shown, and that even these may be photoshopped.
- Read reviews on multiple platforms, including Google, RealSelf, and Yelp. You’ll be shocked to know that one of the most famous “celebrity plastic surgeons” is little more than a marketing team for a doctor with ratings in the low 3-stars on each of these websites.
- Read the “Gluteal Fat Grafting Advisory,” so you personally have a better understanding of what causes death in these procedures. Your surgeon should be very familiar with this.
- Avoid surgeons who provide BBLs that have been redefined or re-branded as some other procedure: There is a standard way to do the procedure and its relatively uniform from surgeon to surgeon.
Despite New Data, Even Board Certified Plastic Surgeons Hold Differing Opinions
Despite the more recent information, there are still highly-regarding and nationally-known board-certified plastic surgeons who “refuse” to provide the Brazilian Butt Lift because they feel the dangers are too significant and the mortality rate too high.
For patients who feel the surgical BBL is simply too risky, non-surgical BBL alternatives are available.
(See also: BBL vs Non-Surgical BBL (Cost, Risk, Results, and More))
