Brazilian butt lift procedures have become extremely popular in recent years. In fact, it is the fastest-growing procedure in the United States, with more than 24,000 procedures performed in 2018. This procedure can help you achieve the highly-desired “hourglass shape” that has been flaunted by celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Beyonce, and Jennifer Lopez.
So read on if you are interested in learning more about this procedure, the recovery, and what exactly it entails so that you can decide if it’s a good option for you!
What Is a Brazilian Butt Lift?
A Brazilian butt lift is a cosmetic procedure with the overall goal of providing more fullness and fat to your butt area. This procedure does not involve using any implants and instead uses your own fat to enhance your bottom. It’s also ideal as it removes fat from undesirable areas and transfers it to a more desirable location— your butt!
Risks and Benefits of a Brazilian Butt Lift
Any procedure comes with risks and benefits— this is certainly true when it comes to a Brazilian butt lift. That being said, this type of procedure isn’t as invasive or major when compared to other procedures related to this area, like silicone butt implants, for example. This is because you are using material from your own body rather than synthetic materials that have higher risks for complications.
Here are the benefits of a Brazilian butt lift:
- Enhance the curves on the lower half of your body
- Reduce the amount of fat on areas like your hips, thighs, or stomach while adding size to the butt at the same time
- Help clothing fit better
- Address issues like sagging and shapelessness that can occur with age
- Even out your body proportions so that the lower half of your body is just as full as the upper half of your body
- Produces a relatively natural look since it’s a more “natural” procedure and uses your own body fat to enhance certain areas while minimizing others
Here are some of the risks of a Brazilian butt lift:
- Infection is always a risk with any procedure
- Scarring is also another common surgical risk
- Pain comes with the territory since you will be dealing with multiple incision sites in different parts of your body (butt, stomach, thighs, hips, etc.)
- Lump formation under your skin after liposuction or fat injection
- Fat embolism, if the fat is injected incorrectly, which can be deadly. If the fat gets into the large veins in your bottom, it can then travel to your lungs or your heart and cause an embolism. However, this is quite uncommon and only occurs in one out of every 3,000 procedures.
- The procedure can also fail to take. Just because it uses your own fat doesn’t guarantee that your body will accept it. The fat can then be broken down by your body and leave you far from your desired result. For this reason, this procedure may require one or two follow-ups to achieve the look you’re going for.
How Is a Brazilian Butt Lift Performed?
Even though a Brazilian butt lift is typically performed as an outpatient procedure, it’s still a complex procedure that requires a lot of expertise. In most cases, this procedure will be performed under general anesthesia so that you are not awake during it. The procedure consists of three main steps:
- The surgeon begins the procedure by using liposuction to remove excess fat from areas like your hips, stomach, and thighs. This involves making an incision in the skin, inserting a tube into the incision, and sucking the fat out.
- The resulting fat is then purified and prepared for injection into your bottom.
- Three to five incisions are then made into your butt, and the processed fat is strategically injected into these areas to achieve the desired look.
- All incisions from both liposuction and the fat transfer are stitched up, and a compression garment is applied to the area to minimize the risk of bleeding and reduce swelling.
How to Recover from Brazilian Butt Lift Surgery?
One of the best things about Brazilian butt lift surgery (other than the amazing results!) is that recovery isn’t as difficult as other cosmetic surgeries performed in the same area. That being said, you still need to take it easy and follow all your doctor’s instructions to ensure a successful recovery and overall result. While recovering from a Brazilian butt lift procedure, make sure to follow these guidelines:
- After the procedure, you will experience pain, bruising, and swelling at the surgical site. This can be managed with prescription pain medications from your doctor and, eventually, over-the-counter pain relievers like Tylenol or Advil. Your doctor might also recommend that you take a stool softener to relieve constipation typical after any procedure using anesthesia.
- After the procedure, your doctor will give you a special compression garment to wear for about eight weeks. These compression garments are usually tight in the stomach and thigh area to minimize swelling but have cutouts around the butt area so that the fat grafts in that area can continue to solidify. Make sure to wear this as recommended by your doctor— most will ask you to wear it continuously for eight weeks.
- After the procedure, you should be able to walk around within a day or two. Make sure to get up every so often and move around to promote blood flow and overall healing. You should maintain a low activity level for about one month after surgery. At the direction of your doctor, you should be able to resume light exercise at this time. At around six to eight weeks post-op, you should be able to return to normal activities.
- Finally, one of the most important recovery instructions is to avoid any pressure on your surgical area for two weeks. After two weeks have passed, you may be able to sit on your butt with the addition of a special pillow to take some of the pressure off the area.
Pillows for Brazilian Butt Lift Recovery
As you can see, recovery from a Brazilian butt lift surgery can be difficult due to the sheer fact that you cannot sit on your bottom! So what can you do to stay comfortable during this period of time?
After all, you would typically spend recovery sitting on your butt in bed or on the couch for other types of surgeries that don’t involve this area of the body. However, this clearly isn’t possible when it comes to a Brazilian butt lift procedure. Thankfully, there are some positions and helpful products that you can use to make your recovery process a total breeze:
- During recovery from a Brazilian butt lift procedure, you can rest and sleep on your side. However, if you aren’t necessarily used to resting or sleeping in this position, it can be a little bit uncomfortable. That’s why we recommend that you use a memory foam knee pillow. This 100% memory foam pillow promotes good posture and alignment while you are positioned on your side.
By keeping your knees, hips, and back straight and supported, you won’t wake up with any annoying joint pain in these areas. This pillow even comes with an adjustable strap so that you can easily keep the pillow in place between your knees while you’re sleeping.
- If you aren’t a fan of side sleeping or resting, fret not as you have another option -- your stomach. While recovering from a Brazilian butt lift procedure, you can safely rest and sleep on your stomach. However, this position can get a bit old after a while, which is why we recommend that you use a versatile half-moon bolster pillow.
This great pillow can easily be added anywhere you need some additional support -- whether that’s under your neck, between your legs, or under your pelvis. So make sure to invest in some great memory foam pillows before your Brazilian butt lift procedure so that your recovery is as quick, easy, and painless as possible.
- After two weeks have passed, you are generally able to now sit on your butt with the permission of your doctor. But don’t just assume that you can sit on hard surfaces like normal— you will need extra cushioning.
That’s why we recommend that you use a gel-infused memory foam coccyx seat cushion for gentle yet substantial support on such a sensitive area. This pillow has an orthopedic and ergonomic design that will easily form to your body and not just support your bottom, but also your entire spine! So treat your butt right with this pillow that will make it easy and realistic for you to sit on your butt once you’re cleared two weeks after your procedure.
Conclusion
Recovery from a Brazilian butt lift doesn’t have to be a pain! As long as you follow your doctor’s instructions and gather the right products ahead of time, you are setting yourself up for a successful procedure that gives you the butt of your dreams!
Sources:
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/19/millennials-fuel-plastic-surgery-boom-record-butt-procedures.html
- https://www.americanboardcosmeticsurgery.org/procedure-learning-center/body-procedures/brazilian-butt-lift/#:~:text=A%20Brazilian%20butt%20lift%20involves,increase%20volume%20and%20improve%20shape
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/anesthesia/about/pac-20384568#:~:text=General%20anesthesia%20is%20a%20combination,and%20inhaled%20gasses%20(anesthetics).
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