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Women and men alike who wish to improve the size, shape, and contour of their buttocks may not be able to obtain their desired look through diet and exercise alone. For these people, structural fat grafting may be an option.
Our specialists at UPMC’s Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery offer structural fat grafting for buttocks augmentation. In structural fat grafting, a surgeon manually removes fat from excess areas, processes it, and places it into a new part of the body.
Before the procedure, you will meet with the surgical team to discuss your goals, learn about the fat grafting process, and plan the procedure. The surgeon will talk with you about your medical history and will address any concerns you may have.
A team member will take photos of your buttocks area at various angles. Using these photos, your doctor will work with you will develop a detailed plan for the procedure.
Structural fat grafting involves the surgeon harvesting fat from fatty areas on your body. It takes a larger volume of fat for buttocks augmentation than for other parts of the body, so multiple locations may be used.
Before removing the fat, the surgical team uses colored pens to mark the donor and graft sites. This allows you to see where the team will be taking fat from. Upon request, the surgical team can avoid harvesting fat from certain areas.
After removing the fat, the surgical team uses a centrifuge to remove unwanted components from it. This process refines the fat before it gets placed into your buttocks for augmentation.
The surgical team will sculpt the fat as they place it into your buttocks to allow for an ideal end result.
Though the time can vary, fat grafting for buttocks augmentation usually takes between two-and-a-half to five hours.
The procedure will take place usually in the hospital.
The procedure usually takes place under general anesthesia, but doctors may use local anesthesia with sedation in minor cases.
Recovery depends on the extent of procedure, but there is generally swelling, bruising, and soreness. You likely will feel uncomfortable in the donor areas for several days. Swelling usually subsides in the grafted areas within two to three weeks, but it lasts longer in the donor areas.
We advise sleeping on your stomach and sitting in a position that puts the least amount of pressure on your buttocks.
Many patients can return to light exercise within 10 days to two weeks of the procedure and return to pre-operation routines in about three weeks.
Fat grafting is less invasive than traditional plastic surgery, but there are potential complications and side effects of the procedure. They include:
Your care team will work to reduce the potential for such problems.
Fat can be easily damaged, but the structural fat grafting procedure for transplanting fat carries a higher fat survival rate. There is not yet a study for fat survival rate in humans.
