Fat Transfer to the Buttock. What is Too Overweight?*

This 45 year old woman had desires for improvement in buttock appearance and projection. She was noted to have some flattening of the buttock and fat deposits in her flanks. She was overweight with a body mass index of 32. Her abdomen had a shelve-like pannus or roll of excess skin- suitable for tummy tuck but this was not her major concern. She underwent fat transfer to her buttock with harvest of over 3 liters of fat from the flanks, back and abdomen. She was informed that the liposuction to her abdomen would not improve her appearance but it would be a good source of fat . After processing- the fat yielded 1.5 liters of usable fat for injection. She had 750 cc of fat placed in each buttock. Buttock projection was improved . Future abdominoplasty would allow for marked improvement in body contour as would weight loss. Many patients desire buttock enhancement but are overweight. Generally patients should have BMI of 30 or less but reasonable results can be had with slightly higher BMI ( up to 35. ) Virtually all patients in this category would benefit from abdominal contouring and if any skin laxity is present- tummy tuck would be ideal. Optimal recovery for a BBL involves positioning off the buttock while abdominoplasty involves lying on the buttock so some limitations of success need to be explained if these procedures are combined. BBL cost at Lyle Plastic Surgery and Aesthetics Center is between $8500-$11,000.