Scottsdale – Many people desire fuller round buttocks. One popular procedure that has a high success rate involves the use of lipoinjection technique, sometimes referred to as the Brazilian Buttock Lift. With this surgery, fat tissue is removed from the body using a specialized technique to preserve the fat cells. Because of their low metabolism, fat cells can survive outside of the body for a short period of time. Meanwhile, the fat cells are prepared for re-injection. I have used this technique since 2002 with excellent success.

I advocate fat grafting over implants for several reasons. First, it is your own tissue and it is more natural looking and feeling than implants. Second, there is the additional benefit of loosing fat from other parts of the body and donate your fat; you get thin in heavy areas and gain volume into a flat buttock. Third, implants are not life-time devices and have unique complications. Patients can avoid implant related complications using fat grafts and have a better opportunity to achieve long-lasting results. An article from the journal Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, discusses an objective method to assess fat cell survival after lipoinjection using MRI.

The article has some problems. First, it only includes 10 patients with MRI examinations. This number of patients is usually too small for us to use this data and apply it across a larger number of patients. Second, the follow up period is too short, only 3 months. A longer follow-up period would have been better to assess longevity of the results. Third, the average injection volume is relatively small amount, 350 mililiters per buttock. On the positive, we clearly see evidence of viable fat grafts within the gluteal muscle and an increase in the size of gluteal circumference. The authors noted some significant findings that validate what patients and surgeon see clinically. For instance, at 2 weeks after surgery, the circumference of the buttocks was increased about 1 to 3 centimeters and greater than the circumference seen at 3 months after the procedure. This likely represents the phenomenom of fat reabsorption and resolution of post-operative swelling.

The most valuable information in the article has to do with the relation of gluteal volume seen on MRI before and after surgery. The average volume increase from before to 3 months after was from 687 ml to 765 ml. The increase in circumference, on average, was from 94.7 before to 95.5 centimeters after gluteal lipoinjection. Importantly, the researchers estimated that an average of 28 percent of the injected fat volume is reabsorbed at 3 months.

It is important for patients contemplating this surgery to know that swelling and recent surgery will make your buttock look bigger in the first few weeks when compared to 3 months later. The research estimates that about 30% of the fat will go away by 3 months from surgery. I recommend an over-correction for that reason on all my patients. Basically, if the patient’s ideal volume increase is 700 ml, then I inject 1000 ml knowing that approximately 30% of the volume will go away due to reabsorption.  As long as the patient has the fat to donate, we can use as much of it to counteract the effects of reabsorption. If you examine the volumes used in patients on my photo gallery at www.myfaceandbody.com you will notice the range is between 600 to 1000 ml. In some cases I have injected as much as 1400 ml in a single operation.