BBL has its limitations*

This 45-year-old woman desired improvement in her flanks and abdomen and wanted more shape to her buttocks. She had fairly loose skin tone on her abdomen. Overly aggressive liposuction with loose skin can result in further loosening and skin excess and irregularities. It can sometimes make the abdomen appear worse. This patient was also a smoker which affects the success of transferred or grafted fat cells owing to decrease vascularity of the recipient site (buttocks) The patient underwent liposuction of the abdomen, flanks, inner thighs and back. A total of 2.8 liters was obtained but of this- 1120 cc was suitable for grafting after processing and proper washing of the cells. She had 560 cc placed in each buttock and an indentation (from a prior injury) improved. She was pleased with the improvement in her flanks and abdomen. Her buttock was fuller although there are limitation she understood. Safety in fat transfer is paramount in Dr. Lyle's practice. Deep injection into muscle is avoided because of concerns about fat embolism- a potentially fatal event. Because only subcutaneous injections are done- volume improvement may be limited. Also, the fact that the patient was a smoker limited full success of the grafted fat- despite the fact that she quit before surgery. Dr Lyle recently added the Vaser liposuction to his practice which may add some degree of tightening capabilities to allow for more aggressive liposuction in these looser skinned patients.