Buttock Augmentation With Fat Grafting

In recent years, buttock or gluteal augmentation procedures have become more and more popular. Because of the growing popularity, surgeons have refined a number of different techniques. One technique involves the use of gluteal implants. This procedure is expensive and can actually result in serious complications for the patient.

On the other hand, fat grafting has been used recently as a more secure alternative. This procedure uses the patient’s own tissue, which provides a more natural look of the buttocks. Fat grafting is also called fat injection, micro fat injection, lipo-injection, fat transfer, or lipo-filling. This procedure involves a technique which fills the defects in the skin of the buttocks and improves the contours of the buttocks.

Brazilian native Rodrigo Gouvea Rosique, M.D. and his colleagues have used the fat grafting technique as methods of buttocks augmentation, called it “gluteoplasty” or “buttock augmentation with autologous fat issue.” They assert that this technique has a lot of benefits, including the fact that it is relatively easy to perform, inexpensive, and offers the patient great physical results with minimal risk.

Plastic surgeons have observed satisfactory results of fat grafting for quite some time and have decided to use “combined procedures” in order to achieve better results. The most successful procedure consists of gently removing the fat tissue through manual liposuction from areas with excess fat tissue, like the abdomen, love handles, thighs, or back, and transferring it to the buttocks. Some patients have enough fat in one location which makes removal much simpler, but others do not have enough fat in one area and require the surgeon to harvest the fat from numerous areas.

Before the patient undergoes the procedure, his or her skin will be marked to determine the “donor” areas and the “receiving” areas. This not only allows the patient to have some control of the procedure by deciding the areas where fat will be removed, but also provides the patient an idea of what the final result will be after the procedure.

Once the regions are properly marked, the surgeon carefully removes and processes the fat. The centrifugation technique is incorporated at this point in order to separate the different components of the fat tissue. It essentially separates the oil from the stem cells, growth factors, and other components.

Finally, the fat obtained from the centrifugation process is re-injected in the areas that will be improved. Most surgeons recommend using very small amounts of fat for each injection; this ensures each fat deposit has adequate blood supply to ensure its survival.

The technique is called “combined” because the surgeon uses liposuction to obtain the fat graft and then proceeds to perform the gluteoplasty or buttock augmentation by injecting that fat to improve the shape, projection, and contour of the patient’s buttocks. Dr. Rosique emphasizes that this combined procedure provides better results when performed by a plastic surgeon with good aesthetic judgment. In other words, when the plastic surgeon uses the combined surgical technique, he or she should be sure that the amount of fat eliminated by liposuction is proportional to the amount of fat infiltrated in the patient’s buttocks. In this way, the surgeon can sculpt a harmonic and proportional body.

Be sure to always visit a qualified plastic surgeon to discuss the options that are right for you.

READ OUR FULL ARTICLE ON BUTTOCK AUGMENTATION

Dr. Amjadi MD, DDS, FACS

Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgeons

915 Gessner Rd #870

Houston, TX 77024

713-465-6198