Three Things You Should Know About a Brazilian Butt Lift

The Brazilian butt lift is a confusing term for those interested in butt reshaping. The combination of the name of a country and the surgical procedure implies something special or unique to that geographic region. Just like the number of words in its name, the Brazilian butt lift can be understood by understanding these three things about it.

First, the misleading part of its name is that of the elevator. It is perfectly logical to assume that the buttocks are actually moved up by some type of tissue lift or repositioning. Usually this means that skin and fat are removed and tightened like in a tummy tuck or breast lift. But that is not the case.

Second, the qualifying term is the Brazilian word that precedes the butt lift. Understanding the significance of this country descriptor goes a long way in appreciating the ethnic significance of the larger buttocks and what is actually done during this cosmetic procedure. The buttocks have long been associated as an important sexual characteristic of a woman. The glutes are anatomically formed by the gluteal muscles of the hips and upper leg. The skin and fat that cover it help form its overall shape, but the size of the muscle plays a key role. This muscular feature has received many cultural interpretations, but it is largely aligned with the organs of reproduction. Thus, when cosmetic surgery is performed, it is to increase their sexual attractiveness.

The butt lift as we know it today comes from Brazilian plastic surgery. Brazilians minimize the size of the breasts but emphasize the size and shape of the buttocks…exactly the opposite of the American or Northern Hemisphere emphasis. This is the Brazilian vision of the body. Given the large number of cosmetic surgeons in that country, Brazil has become an international center for cosmetic surgery, and subsequently its techniques have been promoted throughout the world.

Firming and tightening the buttocks has been around for over fifty years. But the historical approach of removing skin and fat, which leaves visible scars, never caught on. Increasing the size of the buttocks, through volumetric addition, creates both more fullness and a bit of a ‘lift’. As a natural alternative to a synthetic implant, fat injections are used in the buttocks, which offers a double benefit. The removed donor fat improves the contour at the extraction site, which is usually around the waist and stomach. It is essentially a redistribution of a problem into a benefit.

Finally, the Brazilian butt lift is therefore an augmentation of the buttocks through fat injections. The lifting part comes when the buttocks are plumped and lifted by expanding the skin. The downside of using fat is that it is not always predictable and all of the injected fat will not survive. For some patients it may be necessary to do a second fat injection session.