Do I Need Buttock Lift or Buttock Implants?

Q: Dr. Eppley,  I am wanting to have my butt either lifted or possible implant and maybe an upper abdomen tummy tightening..wanting to see what I could do to help with my body shape.

A:Thank you for your inquiry and sending your pictures. I do not really any buttock ptosis (overhang of the inframammary fold) so a lower body lift or talk would not seem appropriate. The best approach may be adding the volume to create a fuller and ‘more uplifted’ buttocks. In other words an implant for adding volume would be more effective than trying to lift any buttock tissues to create fullness. While fat injections is the most common form of buttock augmentation surgery due to your prior tummy tuck and perhaps having had some liposuction as well you do not really have adequate fat stores to do so.

Having had a prior tummy tuck it is very common that residual fullness remains in the upper abdominal skin flap. Most surgeons, rightfully so, do not liposuction the upper abdominal skin flap at the time of the tummy tuck. It is safest to do this secondarily where one can be much more aggressive about the fat reduction without any concerns of safety of the abdominal skin flap.

In your case you are a good candidate for what is known as composite buttock augmentation. This is where the placement of intramuscular buttock implants is complemented by the injection of fat in the subcutaneous tissue over it. The combination of both techniques creates the optimal buttock augmentation effect that can be achieved in any single patient. While you do not have enough fat from your upper abdomen and flanks to do true BBL surgery you do have enough fat to be used for layering mfat layer above the muscle at the time as the placement of the intramuscular buttock implants. This technique still creates the profound diametric aesthetic effect seen in BBL surgery where increasing buttocks size and decreasing abdominal fullness creates the best body shape change.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Plastic Surgeon