The Brazilian butt lift California is one of the most popular cosmetic procedures around. It’s a great way to change your proportions or enhance contours, and Dr. Bruce Kadz in Beverly Hills, CA can give you the personalized care you need to get the results you’re looking for. But how did this procedure get its name, and what’s it all about?
Why Is It Called a Brazilian Butt Lift?
No one can agree completely on the answer to this interesting question, but there are a couple of possibilities. For some people, shapely buttocks are synonymous with the women of Brazil, so to them, the procedure has been named for its goal: the ideal shape as seen in many women of Brazilian or South American heritage.
Others dispute this as the origin of the name and instead believe the procedure was named “Brazilian” because credit for inventing it goes to Dr. Ivo Pitanguy, possibly Brazil’s most famous plastic surgeon. He first started publishing information on this lift back in the 1960s.
Wherever the name comes from, though, this way of improving the shape and contour of the buttocks has exploded in popularity since about 2010. The Brazilian butt lift, or BBL, is a wonderful way to essentially “kill two birds with one stone” by removing unwanted fat from one region and using it to reshape the buttocks.
FAQ About the BBL
What Makes a BBL Special?
Traditional butt lifts use implants, but with the Brazilian, you are able to change the shape of your body and improve your contours using your own fat, instead. You trim areas where you’d like to see less fat—using liposuction—and then re-inject it strategically into the buttocks. Since the fat comes from your own body, the results feel and look perfectly natural.
Am I a Good Candidate?
Most women who are in reasonably good health and have a realistic understanding of the procedure and what it can do for them are good candidates. You should:
- Want to remove fat from one area of your body
- Want to enhance the size and shape of your buttocks
- Want to see moderate rather than dramatic changes
- Be within about 20 pounds of your goal weight
- Have had a stable weight for at least six months
Come visit us for a consultation, where Dr. Kadz will help you discover if you’re a good candidate and help you make the best choices for your personal beauty goals.
Is a Brazilian Butt Lift Permanent?
While it may be generally true that “nothing lasts forever,” the Brazilian butt lift (BBL) comes about as close as you can get. There are also some things you can do to encourage your effects to last. To fully answer this question, however, means considering both parts of the BBL separately: the fat grafting via liposuction, and the injection.
Fat Grafting Results
Once you remove fat cells from your body, they almost never grow back. The body does not easily generate new fat cells after puberty. Instead, the fat cells you have either expand (as you gain weight) or contract (as you lose weight). Once you have removed some of these fat cells with liposuction, minor weight gain is unlikely to show up there.
If you gain significant weight, however, the remaining fat cells may still expand in that area. This is one reason it’s best to seek a Brazilian butt lift when you’re within 10-20 pounds of your goal weight and have had a stable weight for a while—this gives you the best chance of permanent fat grafting results.
Fat Transfer Results
Initial Results
The fat we remove from one area of your body will be purified and then injected into your buttocks. A BBL always involves initially “overfilling” the area, and that’s because only the healthiest fat cells survive the process. In general, an average of 60% of the cells survive, so overfilling ensures you get the perfect look once this process is finished.
It takes your body between six and eight weeks to “take” the injected fat: meaning that your circulatory system accepts the fat and builds blood vessels to supply the new cells with nutrients. Your initial results, therefore, will usually look a bit more dramatic than your final results, but these will definitely fade. This fading is natural, normal, and expected.
Final Results
Once you have your final results a few weeks later, you can expect these to last for decades. With the right treatment, they may even last for a lifetime. Your lifestyle choices will have a big say in how long your results last. Once the fat cells have settled, they will not go away unless you either remove them or lose a lot of weight.
If you go on a diet and lose weight, it’s impossible to predict with 100% certainty where your body will remove the fat from, and it could come from your buttocks. Our bodies store and remove fat based on our unique genetics, so it’s possible that weight loss of more than 10 pounds will undo the effects of your BBL. To keep your results as long as possible, then, it’s best to avoid either losing or gaining more than 10 pounds.
How Can I Get the Best Results?
The good news is that there are some specific things you can do to get the best possible results and then keep them as long as possible.
Sleep on Your Stomach for a While
For eight weeks following your procedure, you should sleep on your stomach every night. This is because it’s important to avoid putting any extra pressure on your newly transferred fat. If you think this could be hard for you, start practicing before your BBL so you can get used to the new sleeping position.
For those who simply cannot sleep on their stomachs, sleeping on your side is permitted—however, you do need to find a way to stop yourself from rolling onto your back during the night. Body pillows may help with this.
Get As Much Sleep As Possible
Speaking of sleep, your body will thank you for getting as much as possible. Our bodies repair and restore themselves during sleep, so the more time you spend in restorative, REM sleep, the faster and better your new fat cells will settle. Just remember that we sleep in cycles of 90 minutes, and the most important part of the cycle comes during REM, which is at the end of that cycle.
Plan your bedtime and waking times in cycles of 90 minutes to make sure you get as much quality sleep as possible, aiming for about nine hours a night if you can. If you tend to set your alarm for 6:30 and then hit “snooze” every ten minutes from 6:30 to 7:10, give up this habit and simply set your alarm for 7:10, instead! Your body will recover more quickly with 40 extra minutes of truly restorative sleep than from four sets of interrupting catnaps.
Sit As Little As Possible
It might not sound possible to give up sitting, but the more you can avoid it for the first month after your BBL, the better your results will be. There are special pillows available that will allow you to sit without putting pressure on the fat, but if you can avoid even using the pillow and simply lay on your side when you need to get off your feet, you’ll see the best results.
If you work at a desk, consider investing in a standing desk or a desk that converts easily from sitting to standing heights. Not only will this help your BBL, but it will be good for you in the long run!
Give Up Smoking
Smoking is horribly damaging to every system in your body. The chemical compounds found in cigarettes work against every healthy physiological process, destroy your skin, restrict healthy blood flow, and elevate your blood pressure.
Smokers are never good candidates for surgery of any sort, and smoking will interfere with your body’s ability to build up blood vessels to nourish the injected fat cells. If you’ve struggled to give up this habit in the past, let your beautiful new body shape be the motivation you need to get there.
Stay Away From the Gym (Temporarily)
With fat removed from one area and a more shapely contour to your buttocks, you may feel highly motivated to hit the gym. Normally, that’s a great idea. Right after your procedure, however, you should avoid the gym.
For one thing, you need to keep your blood pressure down for the first month or so, and both cardio and weight lifting raise your blood pressure—or they should if you’re doing them correctly! Second, you don’t want to be burning fat at this time. Doing so will undo your results.
Gentle walking, however, is very good for your promoting your circulatory system and keeping fit and active during this time.
Keep It Loose
Don’t wear anything, from tight jeans to tight underwear, that would put pressure on your newly transferred fat. For eight weeks, enjoy wearing your comfy sweats, your sassy, flowy dresses, and other loose clothing.
Eat and Drink With Care
Good hydration is crucial during this time. Hydration will help your fat survive and connect with your body, and it’s good for you in every other way, too. Drink lots of water, coconut water, decaf teas, and coffee, and eat plenty of succulent fruits and vegetables. These last will help with hydration and also with getting you the immune-system-boosting vitamin C and micronutrients you need for the fastest healing.
Speaking of micronutrients, they are also abundant in seeds, nuts, dark chocolate (watch the sugar, however!), grass-fed meat and dairy products, pastured eggs and chicken, and complex carbohydrates like sweet potatoes and legumes. You also want to make sure you’re eating plenty of protein during this time, as this helps your body to maintain muscle while keeping you feeling full and satisfied.
Once you have your BBL scheduled, consider making up some nutritious, freeze-able meals ahead of time. That way you don’t have to worry about cooking much during your recovery, but you also won’t have as much temptation to order in all the time. The occasional splurge is fine, but you’ll get the fastest results and keep them the longest with healthy eating habits.
Talk to Us About Your BBL
Keeping your results from a Brazilian butt lift takes some commitment, but if you’re willing to take care of yourself, you can plan on enjoying your results for a lifetime. The effects of aging could mean you’ll eventually need some skin tightening treatments, but you won’t lose your new shape.
Is this the right move for you? Contact Dr. Bruce Kadz in Beverly Hills, CA today to set up a consultation and take the first step.
