Brazilian Butt Lift: The Procedure From Start to Finish

A Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) enhances your curves by transferring fat from other parts of your body to your buttocks, without using implants. It creates a fuller, natural-looking shape while slimming areas like your waist or thighs.

In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how the procedure works, what to expect before and after surgery, and how to recover safely.

What Is a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL)?

A Brazilian butt lift is a cosmetic surgery that makes your buttocks fuller and rounder using your own body fat. Unlike buttock augmentation with implants, this procedure creates natural results by moving fat from areas where you don’t want it to areas where you do.

This body contouring approach gives you two benefits at once. You lose unwanted fat from problem areas while gaining volume in your backside. The result is often an hourglass figure that looks natural.

Key advantages of BBL surgery include:

• Natural-looking results since the procedure uses your own tissue
• Minimal scarring because the surgeon uses small incisions
• Long-lasting results when you maintain a stable weight
• Enhanced body shape from the combined liposuction and fat transfer

The butt lift procedure works best for people who have enough excess fat to harvest. You need sufficient fat deposits in other body areas to transfer to your buttocks. This makes BBL surgery an effective option for buttock enhancement without artificial implants.

Choosing a qualified surgeon is one of the most important steps in a successful BBL. Dr. Raman Mehrzad, a dual specialist in both plastic and aesthetic surgery and internal medicine, ensuring patient safety and high surgical standards.

He is the lead surgeon at Ocean Plastic Surgery Center (www.oceanplasticsurgery.com), a leading plastic surgery practice in Southern California, with over 300, 5 star Google Reviews, offering advanced procedures for the face, breast, body, and skin. The practice is known for its emphasis on natural results, cutting-edge techniques, and personalized patient care.

Preparing for a Brazilian Butt Lift

Getting ready for a Brazilian Butt Lift involves medical clearance and lifestyle changes that protect your health and improve results.

Your surgeon will need to evaluate your overall fitness for surgery and guide you on what to avoid in the weeks leading up to your procedure.

Required Medical Exams and Health Conditions

You’ll need a complete medical evaluation before your surgery date. This includes blood work to check your red and white blood cell counts, clotting ability, and organ function. Your surgeon may also order an EKG to assess your heart health.

Certain health conditions require special attention. If you have diabetes, your blood sugar levels must be well-controlled before surgery. High blood pressure needs to be managed and stable. You should disclose any history of blood clots, as this affects your surgical risk.

What to Avoid Before Surgery

Stop smoking and all nicotine products at least 4-6 weeks before your procedure. Nicotine restricts blood flow and prevents proper healing of transferred fat cells.

You must avoid these medications and substances for 2-3 weeks before surgery:

• Aspirin and anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen, naproxen)
• Blood thinners like warfarin
• Herbal supplements (fish oil, vitamin E, ginkgo biloba, St. John’s wort)
• Diet pills and weight loss supplements

Alcohol thins your blood and interferes with anesthesia. Stop drinking at least one week before surgery. Don’t start any new medications or supplements without asking your surgeon first.

The BBL Surgical Procedure

The BBL involves three main technical steps, removing fat through liposuction, processing that fat for transfer, and injecting it into your buttocks to create the desired shape.

General anesthesia keeps you comfortable throughout the procedure, which typically takes two to four hours.

1. Liposuction – The First Step

Your surgeon begins by performing liposuction on donor areas of your body. Common donor sites include your abdomen, flanks, thighs, and lower back.

The surgeon makes small incisions in the donor areas and inserts a thin tube called a cannula. This cannula breaks up and suctions out fat cells. The surgeon uses careful movements to avoid damaging the fat cells, as healthy cells are needed for successful fat transfer.

2. Fat Processing and Purification

After fat harvesting, your surgeon must prepare the fat for injection. Raw liposuction fluid contains damaged fat cells, blood, tumescent fluid, and oil that cannot be injected safely.

Fat processing typically uses one of these methods:

• Centrifugation: Spinning the fat at high speeds to separate viable cells from debris
• Filtration: Passing the fat through special filters to remove impurities
• Decantation: Allowing the fat to settle and manually separating the layers

Fat purification removes damaged cells and liquids, leaving only healthy fat cells for transfer. This step is critical because it affects your fat survival rate.

Higher quality purified fat means better results and longer-lasting volume. Most surgeons lose about 30-50% of the harvested fat during processing.

3. Fat Injection and Sculpting Techniques

The injected fat is placed only in the subcutaneous layer above the gluteal muscle, never into the muscle or blood vessels, in line with modern safety guidelines for BBL surgery.

The surgeon makes multiple small entry points and injects fat in thin layers throughout each buttock.

This technique, called microdroplet fat grafting, places small amounts of fat in different locations rather than one large deposit. It improves fat survival rate because the transferred fat needs blood supply to survive.

Your surgeon shapes your buttocks during the injection process. They add more volume to specific areas to create your desired shape, whether that’s a rounded look or lifted appearance. The placement of injected fat determines your final results.

4. Surgery Duration and Anesthesia

A Brazilian Butt Lift is typically performed under general anesthesia and takes about 2–4 hours. You’re fully asleep while an anesthesiologist monitors you throughout the procedure.

Surgery time varies depending on the number of donor areas and the amount of sculpting required. Your vital signs and fluid levels are closely monitored. After the fat transfer, small incisions are closed with sutures, and compression garments are applied to the donor areas.

Recovery After a Brazilian Butt Lift

Recovery takes about 2 to 3 months, with final results visible around 6 months. You’ll need to avoid sitting directly on your buttocks, wear compression garments, and follow strict post-operative care guidelines to protect your results.

Week-by-Week Healing Timeline

Week 1: You’ll need someone to help you during the first week. Swelling and bruising will be at their peak. You must wear compression garments on the areas where fat was removed. You cannot sit or lie directly on your buttocks.

Weeks 2-3: Most patients start feeling better. Swelling begins to decrease, but you still need to avoid sitting normally. Your surgeon will check your progress at follow-up appointments. You should continue wearing compression garments as directed.

Weeks 4-6: You can gradually start sitting for short periods using a special pillow. Most swelling improves during this time. Many people return to light activities and work if their job doesn’t require prolonged sitting.

Months 2-3: Your butt lift recovery enters the long-term recovery phase. Swelling continues to go down. You can resume most normal activities. Your results become more visible as your body heals.

Month 6: Final results appear as all swelling resolves and fat cells settle into place.

When Can You Return to Work and Exercise?

Most patients return to desk jobs after 2 to 3 weeks if they can use a BBL pillow. Jobs requiring standing or light movement allow earlier returns, sometimes within 10 to 14 days. Physical jobs that involve heavy lifting require 6 to 8 weeks off.

Light walking starts immediately. Wait 3 to 4 weeks before lower body stretching. You can do upper body exercises after 2 to 3 weeks if they don’t strain your core or buttocks.

Avoid these activities for 6 to 8 weeks:

• Running or jogging
• Squats, lunges, or leg exercises
• High-impact activities
• Heavy weightlifting

Your surgeon will clear you for full exercise during follow-up appointments. The recovery timeline varies based on your healing progress and the amount of fat transferred.

Risks and Complications of BBL

Brazilian butt lift surgery carries serious risks that every patient needs to understand before moving forward.

While many patients heal without major issues, Brazilian butt lift surgery is considered one of the highest‑risk cosmetic procedures because of the potential for fatal fat embolism if fat is injected too deeply or into the muscle.

Most Common Risks and Side Effects

Fat embolism remains the most dangerous complication of BBL surgery. This happens when injected fat enters the bloodstream and travels to the lungs or brain. It can be fatal if not treated immediately.

Infection can occur at incision sites or in the areas where fat was injected. Signs include fever, increased pain, redness, and unusual drainage.

Other common complications include:

• Asymmetry in buttock shape or size
• Fat necrosis when transferred fat cells die
• Seroma or fluid buildup under the skin
• Hematoma from blood collecting under the skin
• Numbness in treated areas that may be temporary or permanent
• Scarring at liposuction and injection sites

Weight fluctuations after surgery can change your results. Gaining or losing significant weight affects how the transferred fat looks. Some transferred fat will naturally be reabsorbed by your body in the first few months.