Your Questions
Your Questions
Q: Dr. Eppley, I would like my silicone butt injections removed. Does the scar tissue contain silicone oil, fat oil or is it just scar tissue? Will this procedure help reduce my butt from being sensitive? Is breaking up the lumps dangerous? Can it travel to other places when it’s broken up?
A: Silicone buttock injections can not be removed per se. They can be treated by liposuction and/or fat injections. These techniques allow for some of the silicone to be removed but what it mainly does is break up any hard tissue lumps (e.g., oil cysts and their surrounding scar tissue) caused by the silicone material as well as place new fat in and around where the silicone material/tissue reactions have occurred. Whether these efforts are worth it depend on what symptoms you are now experiencing. These efforts will not change any outside pigmentation changes in the skin but can help with some visible contour issues such as indents.
Oil cysts means silicone oil cysts. Breaking up the lumps is not dangerous. It is the injection of the material that poses the risk of getting in a blood vessel and traveling to other places.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, which has the most effect on your buttock size, implants or fat injections?Which has the better results because I do have some fat from having a baby.
A: The choice between fat injections or implants for buttock augmentation depends on numerous factors. The most significant are how much fat you have to donate and how much buttock size increase you desire. Whether ‘some fat’ is enough to achieve a visible change depends on what your body looks like now. The largest donor source of fat is the stomach area although it can be taken from many other places as well such as the flanks and thighs. The minimum amount of fat one should have should be at least 1.5 liters to be able to put reduce it down to 400cc to 500cc per buttock. I wold consider this to be the minimum to justify the surgical effort. For some women, much more may be needed. If fat is inadequate then the only option is going to be implants.
If you could send a picture of your body and your height and weight that would be helpful in providing a more specific answer.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I had buttock implants that were removed in December 2011 due to a shifting of the left implant. It left me with a indentation defect. I would like to see what options I have to revise this area. Thank you.
A: If removal of a buttock implant left an indentation defect and had to be removed due to shifting, that would indicate that the original implants were likely placed in a subcutaneous pocket…which is notorious for implant displacement in the buttock region. That would also explain why the indentation defect appeared, probably from pressure atrophy being too buy propecia online without prescription
close to the skin. Such problems do not usually arise from intramuscular buttock implants if they are placed properly.
Depending on the size of the buttock indentation, fat injection grafting would be the best treatment. The indentation likely represents a fat defect so replacing similar tissue with what has been lost seems most logical. Fat injection grafting does require that one has some fat to harvest but for a buttock indentation the volume needed should not be too great.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana
Q: Dr. Eppley, I want a fuller butt to compliment the rest of my body. I don’t have any pictures at this time but I’m a black female with what they call a flat butt that doesn’t go with the rest of my body. What are my options for getting a bigger butt?
A: Buttock augmentation can be done by two techniques; implants and fat injections. Each as their own advantages and disadvantages. By far the most common buttock enlargement method today is fat injections also known as the Brazilian Butt Lift. Fat injections offer the advantages of simultaneous body contouring from the liposuction fat harvest and a natural method of enlargement that has a fairly quick recovery. It’s one disadvantage is that there is no predicting how much of the fat will survive. As a general rule, fat injections can produce only a modest enlargement in buttock size. Synthetic implants have the advantage of a permanent method of buttock enlargement that can produce a larger result that is maintained. Its disadvantage is that it requires a small intergluteal scar and has a longer and more difficult recovery.
While many patients can choose between implant or fat injections, some will have no choice but to have implants. If one has little or inadequate donor fat to harvest, then fat injections can not be performed.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana