What Is a Butt Lift?
Your genes, natural aging, sun damage, and weight changes can all have an effects on your buttocks, causing skin to sag. A butt lift can give your buttocks back its youthful look and feel.
During a butt lift, Dr. Ver Halen removes unwanted fat from the waist and thighs, and augments the buttock and hips with either fat or an implant to achieve a more toned look.
A Brazilian butt lift, by its very nature, combines liposuction with a lift, but many people choose to combine their butt augmentation procedure with liposuction, a tummy tuck, a thigh lift, or with other procedures for a mommy makeover.
If you’re interested in learning more about an Brazilian Butt Lift, check out our before-and-after gallery here.
Who’s Eligible for Butt Augmentation?
The surgery is available to both women and men, and a plastic surgeon may consider you a good candidate if you:
- Have lost a lot of weight, and this weight loss has been stable for at least six months
- Are overweight but haven’t been able to lose a significant amount of weight through exercise or diet
- Are at a normal weight but want to improve the appearance of your lower body
- Are at a normal weight but have skin elasticity issues, perhaps due to aging
You may not be eligible if you:
- Suffer from a severe chronic health issue, like heart disease or diabetes
- Want to lose a significant amount of weight
- Have a body mass index (BMI) higher than 32
- Have a mental health condition
- Are a smoker
4 Types of Butt Lift Surgery
1. Brazilian Butt Lift (Buttock Fat Transfer)
A Brazilian butt lift improves the appearance of your buttocks while adding volume through fat transfer. Dr. Ver Halen will use liposuction to remove excess fat from one area of your body. Then he’ll transfer it to your buttocks, attaining the look you want. He has developed a number of special techniques to ensure his patients receive the maximum benefits from their fat-grafting procedure. Dr. Ver Halen uses three separate, FDA-approved steps to:
- Ensure non-fat tissue is removed from the fat to be injected;
- Improve the percentage of fat cells and fat progenitor cells (“stem cells”) that are transferred;
- Boost the survival of the transferred fat by using a patient’s own growth factors, which are harvested during surgery. These help improve the viability of the fat and draw circulating stem cells from the blood to the buttock tissue.
Pros of a Brazilian Butt Lift
Many people choose Brazilian butt lifts because:
- They provide natural-looking results.
- There’s no risk of allergic reaction to implants.
- Excess fat is taken from other parts of your body, like your waist or thighs, which can leave those parts slimmer.
Cons of a Brazilian Butt Lift
A Brazilian butt lift isn’t suitable if you have insufficient fat because Dr. Ver Halen will pull the fat inserted into your buttocks from your own body. After the procedure, you must avoid sitting for three to four weeks; otherwise, the fat grafts may not be properly grafted to the buttock tissue. For patient safety during the surgical procedure, multiple precautions are taken to ensure that:
- Fat is only injected into the subcutaneous space
- Fat is not injected deep into muscle tissue, and
- Fat does not migrate into your blood vessels
These precautions taken by a Board-certified surgeon reduce the risk of the major complications of buttock fat grafting, including fatality.
2. With Implants
During this cosmetic procedure, Dr. Ver Halen places silicone-filled buttock implants into your buttocks. The shape and size of the silicone implants are of your choice. They can be round or oval, featuring either smooth or textured surfaces. They are made of a highly durable material to resist rupturing and deflating. One of the key differences between a lift with implants and a Brazilian butt lift is that the former can provide more volume. A Brazilian butt lift usually provides a more natural look, since your own tissue is used.
Pros of a Butt Lift with Implants
Many people choose butt lifts with implants because:
- Buttock implants can be almost any size, allowing you to choose the projection of your buttocks.
- You can have the surgical procedure even if you don’t have extra body fat.
Cons of a Butt Lift with Implants
- Butt Implants can become deformed over time.
- There is the risk of rupture.
- A large incision is made, which could leave a noticeable scar.
3. Non-Surgical Butt Lift
This technique is typically reserved for patients who require small changes to their buttock shape and/or size. During the procedure, your own growth factors are harvested from your blood via platelet-rich plasma and combined with an injectable, FDA-approved filler to correct or improve small areas of your buttocks. Dr. Ver Halen also uses a special device to smooth the buttock skin by permanently treating cellulite in your buttocks and thighs.
4. Buttock Liposculpture
This technique is typically combined with most of the other available buttock lift techniques. Dr. Ver Halen sculpts the parts of your body above and below your buttocks to improve and accentuate your overall figure. In most patients, half of the procedure is changing the appearance of the butt itself, while half is sculpting the waist and thighs above and below the buttocks.
Butt Lift Scarring
Scarring with a Brazilian Butt Lift
A Brazilian butt lift tends to leave smaller, less noticeable scars than a lift with butt implants. During liposuction to remove fat from your body, Dr. Ver Halen will use ultra-fine cannulas to ensure only very small incisions need to be made. This means Brazilian butt lift scars can be virtually unnoticeable.
Scarring with a Butt Lift with Implants
Buttock augmentation with implants involves larger incisions, so the implants can be inserted into your buttocks. While this may result in more noticeable scarring, those scars can be reduced with laser skin resurfacing and scar revision techniques.
Scarring with a Non-Surgical Butt Lift
Scarring may occur at the injection site.
Scarring with Buttock Liposculpture
Scarring may occur at the liposuction site.
Butt Lift Surgery at Ver Halen Aesthetics
Consultation
During your initial consultation, Dr. Ver Halen will discuss in more detail the lift procedures. You’ll go over eligibility, your reasons for surgery, desired outcomes, and questions about your health status and lifestyle. You’ll have plenty of time to ask any questions you have.
Length of surgery
A Brazilian butt lift or a butt lift with implants takes between 1.5 to 4 hours to complete.
Reducing Cellulite
The Team at Ver Halen Aesthetics is specially trained to use the Cellfina® device to surgically reduce the appearance of cellulite on your buttocks. This technique, when combined with buttock liposculpting and augmentation, can dramatically improve your results by smoothing the appearance of cellulite.
Follow-Up
Before you go in for surgery, your plastic surgeon will schedule a follow-up consultation to ensure your aftercare is optimal and that you’ve achieved the results you want!
Butt Lift Recovery Period
After a butt lift procedure via fat transfer or implants, it’s important to not sit directly on your buttocks for several weeks. Doing so may prevent long-lasting results. After a predetermined amount of time, it’s recommended to use a cushion when sitting. You are likely to feel bruising and swelling immediately after the procedure. Any pain should completely disappear a couple months after surgery. If pain becomes an issue, it can be managed with pain medication, such as Tylenol®. Most patients can expect to be up and walking a day or two after surgery and return to normal activities in six to eight weeks.
The Risks of a Butt Lift
The risks of buttock enhancement via implants or fat transfer include:
- Bleeding
- Anesthesia risks
- Poor healing
- Infection
- Numbness or changes in skin sensation
- Persistent pain
- Scarring
- Prolonged swelling
- Skin discoloration
Paying for Butt Augmentation
There are different ways that you can pay for your butt lift. For example, some credit cards cover cosmetic surgery, such as those offered by Comenity® Capital Bank (Alphaeon Credit®) and Synchrony Bank (CareCredit®). Another option is to use a specialized loan company like Enhance Patient Finance or United Medical Credit, or you could pay with:
- Credit card
- Cash
- In-house financing
- Cashier’s check
- Other types of loans
Our ultimate aim is to help you attain the look and confidence you want, so don’t hesitate to talk to us about our financing options!
