Introduction
There is no question about the fact that people nowadays are more and more interested in the aesthetics of the buttocks. The butt is an important part of the body for both men and women. Nowadays everybody wants to have a perky, round and large butt, but only a few naturally have it. This is the reason why butt enhancement procedures are more and more in demand nowadays.
We have butt implant surgery that is very sought after and even occupies the sixth position in the most popular plastic surgery procedures worldwide. However, there are patients interested in getting other types of procedures and not butt implants.
In this article, we will discuss safe alternatives to butt implants.
Butt implants vs. silicone injections
Some people tend to believe that butt implants are similar to silicone injections and the procedure is pretty much the same, only that butt implants cost more than injections. The reality is that things couldn’t be more different. Butt implant surgery is a completely safe procedure when performed by a board-certified plastic surgeon in an accredited medical facility, while getting silicone injections into the buttocks is not only unsafe but also an illegal practice in the United States.
Butt implants are made out of a highly cohesive medical silicone that once inserted into the buttocks has no need to be removed or replaced unless complications occur. Silicone injections use industrial silicone that was never designed to be used inside a human body and can cause significant complications. People don’t realize how dangerous this practice is because the side effects that can even be life-threatening can occur months and even years after the procedure.
In short, silicone injections are not only an unsafe alternative to butt implants but are actually a dangerous and illegal practice that should be avoided at all costs. However, there are other types of injections that are considered to be safe alternatives to butt implants, and these are injections using the patient’s own fat tissue.
Fat injections to the buttocks
Fat injections to the buttocks are also known as lipofilling or fat transfer to the buttocks. The procedure entails the use of the patient’s own fat cells that are injected into the buttocks to contour the area and give it more volume.
Lipofilling is a cutting-edge procedure because it uses the patient’s fat to correct defects from other regions of the body. Thus, the risk of reactions to foreign bodies is eliminated. Moreover, the fat is available and easy to access, and this reduces the patient’s discomfort to a minimum, and lipofilling can be repeated very easily if needed. Excess adipose tissue is found everywhere in the human body and can be easily obtained by liposuction and then transplanted into the treated area.
The transplantation of adipose tissue is performed in three consecutive phases:
1. Extraction of adipose tissue from the donor area
2. Purification of aspirated fat by delicate centrifugation
3. Re-injection of the purified fat by a three-dimensional reimplantation technique
Lipofilling can be performed under local or general anesthesia, depending on the patient’s characteristics and the anesthetist’s recommendation. You will discuss these options with your surgeon. Lipofilling can be repeated if necessary and is normally done three to six months after the first procedure.
Lipofilling can last up to a few hours, depending on the anatomy of each patient. The donor areas receive small incisions through which the liposuction cannula will be inserted. The cannula is connected to a strong medical vacuum device that will suction the fat out of the body once it has been dislodged by the movements of the cannula. After the fat is suctioned into the vacuum machine, the processing stage can start.
A centrifugation process is used to purify the fat extracted with liposuction. It is only the pure and healthy fat cells that will be used for transfer to the buttocks, while the damaged fat cells, blood, and other impurities will be discharged.
The injection of the fat cells into the buttock area needs to be done with care, and only by an experienced, board-certified plastic surgeon, otherwise there is a high risk for the fat to be reabsorbed into the body and for the procedure to be unsuccessful. The plastic surgeon will inject small amounts of fat in different areas of the buttocks and at different depths to ensure a symmetric distribution of the adipose cells. This is an essential step of the procedure. Injecting too much fat in one area can lead to the formation of granulomas or the death of the fat cells transferred and fat tissue necrosis. This is one of the reasons why this procedure is among the services offered by just a few plastic surgeons and not all. It requires a great deal of expertise, a keen eye for detail, and extensive knowledge of the feminine anatomy to be able to perform this procedure and achieve spectacular results.
Results after butt lipofilling
Fat transfer to the buttocks doesn’t require a prolonged hospitalization period. Most patients will return home the same day of the procedure for the recovery period. The recovery period is about two weeks, and during this time patients are advised to get enough rest to allow the body to heal but also to try to resume their daily activities within a day or two after the procedure. Moderation and a gradual approach are the keys to a healthy recovery.
The pain after fat transfer to the buttocks is minor and can easily be controlled with the help of pain medication; however, there is an increased level of discomfort associated with this procedure considering the fact that patients are advised not to sit on the buttocks or lie on their back for a minimum of three weeks post-op. Too much pressure applied on the buttocks too soon after the procedure can translate into a vast majority of the fat injected being reabsorbed by the body.
The natural process that will start immediately after t fat transfer is for the newly grafted fat to start developing a new blood network to ensure its survival. However, this takes time, and it could be as much as a couple of weeks. During this time, some of the fat that was injected will be reabsorbed by the body. The percentage is often no more than 30%. If the procedure was performed with good standards of quality and if the patient followed the instructions of the plastic surgeon, the majority of the fat that was injected will stay in the buttocks after the first two to three months post-op.
To sustain the results long-term and even permanently, patients need to avoid weight fluctuations as this could alter the aesthetic results of the procedure. Gaining weight after fat injections to the buttocks can trigger asymmetries in the contour of the buttocks, while losing weight can affect the volume of the buttocks.
Keep in mind that unlike injections with other substances, injections with fat are safe and associated with minimal risks and complications. While the procedure might not deliver an impressive increase in the size of the buttocks, repeated sessions can be used for this purpose.
Conclusion
Butt implants are a safe and efficient method to get the buttocks of your dreams. If you don’t want to get implants to get an enhancement of your rear end but still want to resort to plastic surgery, it is worth knowing that we do have a safe alternative to butt implant surgery. The procedure is called fat transfer to the buttocks or butt lipofilling, and it entails injections with the patient’s own fat cells to increase the volume of the buttocks.
Because we use the patient’s own tissue and not external, chemical substances, the complications that can occur are minimal, and there are no major health risks associated with undergoing fat transfer to the butt.
Keep in mind that butt lipofilling is the only safe and efficient alternative to using butt implants. Using hyaluronic acid or silicone injections to the buttocks are not considered safe alternatives and should be avoided, especially silicone injections which are an illegal and life-threatening practice.