Buttock Lift
Weight changes, sun damage, genetics, and age can cause the firmest of skin to sag. Over time, skin can loosen and lose its youthful curves. A buttock lift can help. This cosmetic surgery lifts and tightens skin to improve the look of your lower body.
At Faith Regional Physicians Services in Norfolk, Nebraska, we offer buttock lift, buttock enhancement, and related cosmetic procedures. Our board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon offers many safe options for a shapelier appearance.
Choosing a Buttock Procedure
Your plastic surgeon can combine a buttock lift with buttock augmentation or other procedures. Types of buttock surgeries include:
Buttock lift
Also called a gluteal lift, this surgery improves tone and appearance by trimming, lifting, and contouring skin and tissues. After removing excess skin and fat, the surgeon reshapes remaining tissues to create a look that’s firm, shapely, and smooth. A buttock lift won’t add size, but it can enhance your shape and even out dimpled, irregular skin.
Buttock augmentation
This procedure is also called buttock enhancement or gluteal augmentation. It adds size, fullness, and roundness.
Types of augmentation include:
- Implants – Silicone-filled buttock implants
- Fat transfer (Brazilian butt lift) – Also called fat grafting
- Combination – Surgery includes both implants and fat transfer
People sometimes combine buttock surgery with cosmetic procedures, such as:
Consulting with a Plastic Surgeon
If you’re considering buttock surgery, we encourage you to schedule a free consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon at Faith Regional. Bring your questions, concerns, and thoughts about what you’d like to change.
The surgeon will discuss your goals to see how Faith Regional can help you get the look you want. Your doctor may show you treatment results similar to what you envision. At Faith Regional, we offer advanced 3D imaging so you can preview and discuss desired results with your surgeon using your own simulated image.
Risks of Buttock Surgery
While you’re choosing a procedure, your plastic surgeon will help you weigh the pros and cons of each procedure based on your condition and goals. You’re encouraged to ask questions and share concerns.
- Potential risks – In addition to risks associated with any surgery, buttock surgery risks can include problems with skin sensation, discoloration, fluid accumulation, or swelling. Other risks can range from uneven results (asymmetry) to systemic issues such as clotting,
- General requirements – To have buttock surgery, you should meet these and other guidelines:
- Your weight has been stable for 6-12 months
- You are in good mental and physical health
- You don’t have certain medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease
- You don’t smoke or use tobacco
At Faith Regional, problems are uncommon, but if results are not as expected your surgeon will discuss treatment options and the possibility of a revision.
Preparing for Buttock Surgery
Your plastic surgeon and other practitioners at Faith Regional provide custom information. You’ll learn how to plan, where to go, and what to do on the day of your procedure. Your doctor will also inform you about what to expect and post-surgery recovery.
Preparation may include:
- Blood or other lab testing
- Medical evaluation and health history
- Guidance about medications and supplements
- Instructions to stop smoking
- Instructions about food or beverages before surgery
Buttock Lift Surgery
Your doctor and practitioners will review the steps involved in your specific procedure and everything you need to know during office appointments. You’ll also visit with your surgeon just before surgery.
Before surgery, you’ll get medicine to keep you comfortable. Your nurse may place an IV line in your hand or arm if you have IV sedation. If you have general anesthesia, the anesthesiologist delivers medication through a mask. You won’t feel anything during the procedure.
After surgery, you’ll have a short hospital stay. Recovery processes and times vary. Your doctor will let you know what to expect, from planning and preparation through healing and follow-up care.
Buttock Lift Procedure Steps
Your surgeon will discuss these or other steps for your procedure:
- During a buttock lift, the surgeon makes several incisions of varied lengths or patterns, depending on how much excess skin is removed and where it’s located. A common approach is to make an incision just below the buttocks, in the crease between the buttocks and upper thigh. Your surgeon will place incisions so that scars are hidden by most clothing and swimwear.
- The surgeon removes excess skin and tissues to create a more defined crease. Skin in the buttocks areas is tightened to smooth and improve contours.
- If your buttock lift is part of a tummy tuck, you may have an incision just below your waistline. If your procedure includes liposuction to remove fat, your surgeon will discuss the amount and location of fat removal.
- The surgeon closes other incisions using surgical sutures (stitches), adhesives, tapes, or clips and covers the incisions.
Results are visible right away, but fat and tissues continue to settle over the next 3-6 months. Avoid excessive force or abrasive motion while your wounds heal. For good results and safety, it’s important to follow all of your surgeon’s individualized instructions.
Scarring can take up to two years to fade and some scarring will remain. Your body naturally loses firmness with age. However, most of your initial improvement should remain if you live a healthy lifestyle and maintain a steady weight.
Buttock Implant Surgery Steps
If you have buttock implant surgery, your surgeon makes incisions and places silicone-filled implants deep within your buttock tissues.
- Your doctor will discuss the number and type of incisions before your surgery. Incision location options include:
- Near the top of both sides of the upper buttocks
- Near the bottom, in the gluteal creases between buttocks and top of thighs
- Incisions are hidden in the crease of the buttocks
- One incision down the center of the crease between the buttocks
- Implant placement can be in the muscle or above the muscle on each side. The insertion method and positioning of implants depend on the type of implant, your body type, the degree of size increase, and other individual recommendations from your surgeon.
- The surgeon trims excess skin, reshapes, and tightens the buttocks area.
- To complete the surgery, your surgeon closes incisions with layered sutures in the buttocks tissue. The surgeon may use sutures, skin adhesive, or surgical tape to close the skin.
- After buttock implant surgery, you’ll have some swelling but this will go away as your skin heals. You should notice immediate results with a shapelier form and appearance. With a healthy lifestyle and steady weight, you should have long-lasting results.
Fat Transfer / Grafting (Brazilian Butt Lift) Procedure Steps
With fat grafting, the surgeon removes fat from your belly or another fatty area to your buttocks. This procedure may be done alone or combined with buttock implants. Fat grafting steps are generally as follows:
- The surgeon performs liposuction to remove fat from another part of your body. This is most commonly the abdomen but can include other areas such as the thighs or back.
- Your doctor may liposuction as much as three times the amount of fat that will ultimately be injected into the buttocks.
- After the fat is liquified, you surgeon uses a hollow tube called a cannula to add fat to the buttocks. This process involves several small injections across the buttocks area.
- After fat grafting surgery, the improved shape and roundness will be immediately noticeable. However, it may take as long as a year before your new look is complete and tissues settle, and the fat looks and feels its most natural.
- Over time, buttocks projection may be somewhat diminished as fat is absorbed into your body. Results vary, but it’s common to keep 60-80% of the amount of transferred fat. Significant weight gain or loss can also affect your results.
Your Plastic Surgery Team
At Faith Regional, your plastic surgeon, a specialized nurse and other healthcare professionals such as an advanced care practitioner and aesthetician may be involved in your care.
Schedule a Consultation
You can reach us at 402-844-8167 or email frpsclinics@frhs.org to schedule an appointment.