The chances are high you’ve read in regards to the complications and fatalities related to Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) surgery within the media. But let’s start with a clarification on the procedure from the President of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), Alan Matarasso. “The term is actually a misnomer,” says Matarasso. “To obviously explain BBL it’s easier to consider the butt because the comparable to the breasts. With the breasts, we will do an enlargement, or a lift, or each. You possibly can put a breast implant in, or you may do a breast lift and the identical holds true for the buttock. You possibly can enlarge it via fat injections, or an implant, or you may do a lift or each.”

From bruising, scarring, fat embolism (clots caused from the injections) and leaking fat, to the premature deaths of a lot of individuals who’ve undergone the procedure – the hazards of BBL have received much airtime, but as Matarasso explains, the hazards we’ve been reading about don’t occur with a straight-up buttock lift that involves a straightforward incision, tissue removal, and re-stitch (the equivalent of a breast lift). These are the resulting problems with implants or injections of fat (into areas of the buttock to offer it fullness and shape), which is precisely what BBL entails (as demonstrated by @drsiamakagha on Instagram). In brief, the BBL procedure is definitely an enlargement, thus the word ‘lift’ within the name is misleading. The ASPS recorded a 13% rise in buttock lifts between 2016 and 2017 and a ten% rise in those involving fat grafting.

From Cardi B, Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner’s much wanted derrières, to the countless reality TV ‘celebs’ who’ve followed suit in emulating their physiques – many famous figureheads have helped popularise the procedure lately. While it’s never been officially confirmed that Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner have undergone BBL, Cardi B revealed that she had had butt injections, in an interview with GQ, 4 years ago in a basement for $800. “It was the craziest pain ever,” said Cardi B. “I felt like I used to be gonna pass out. I felt slightly dizzy.” She also told GQ that she experienced fat leakage for the five days following the injections.

It isn’t just celebrities with money to burn which can be selecting to go under the knife. In 2018, Leah Cambridge, a 29-year-old British mother-of-three, reportedly died during a £5,000 ‘butt lift’ in Elite Aftercare Clinic in Izmir, Turkey, where she is claimed to have suffered a fatal heart attack on the operating table after fat was by chance deposited into her bloodstream. It’s the identical clinic that Geordie Shore’s Chloe Ferry tagged in a bikini shot on Instagram showing off her surgically enhanced buttock just six months before. She’s not the just one sharing her recently plumped peach – Natalee Harris from MTV’s The Valley’s shared a photo together with her fans asking, “do I am going greater again?” And these are only the ladies. In accordance with ASPS male cosmetic surgery increased by 325% between 1997 and 2015, forming 10% of all surgical procedures during that time. Inside that, there’s a demographic of men undergoing the BBL procedure around the globe – 13% of the total buttock lifts in 2016 –  whose experiences should not voiced since many men select not to return forward to debate their surgery for fear of being stigmatised. That, and the worrying indisputable fact that many surgeries abroad are asking patients to sign non-disclosure contracts that prevent them from speaking out about complications they might have endured.

As Matarasso explains, it’s dangerously easy for fatalities to occur. “The most important problem we’ve learned is that the anatomy on this area may be very, very complicated. Once you put fat into other areas of the body you don’t should worry anywhere near as much about it moving into the blood vessels,” he explains. “But on this area, they’re finding that the fat can travel into the blood vessels, through the bloodstream, into the center and the lungs, and that’s what’s causing these terrible problems and fatalities. This will occur immediately on the operating table, or inside the following 24-48 hours. We call that the identical spectrum since the final result is, unfortunately, the identical. Nonetheless, there are other problems that may occur in a while. The fat can break down and switch into oil, and there might be bleeding and infections. And that’s when fat is used.”

Unfortunately, it gets even worse. In accordance with Matarasso there are communities – or “hotbed areas” – through which non-doctors are injecting waxes and silicone products into the buttocks, which creates other problems – like cists, leaking, sinus tracts – that may occur years down the road. As with all cosmetic surgeries, BBL is expensive meaning that many individuals are heading to those “hotbed areas”, for instance, Turkey or South Florida, where procedures are done in “strip malls next to a nail salon, miles from the closest hospital”. In turn, these patients often require weeks in hospital costing the NHS and other health services worldwide tens of 1000’s of kilos.

It’s at this point that the legalities of cosmetic surgery come into query. What exactly is taken into account illegal in the sphere? “That’s the essence of the controversy,” says Matarasso. “When I am going to a hospital as a plastic surgeon, I actually have to have approval. But a number of cosmetic surgery might be performed outside of a hospital. Fairly often it’s done in a doctors office, so you have got non-board certified surgeons doing the operation. We just had a giant laws passed in the USA, regarding who can say they’re a plastic surgeon. Consider it or not, people give you these ways of calling themselves a plastic surgeon after they aren’t. And lots of the mortalities have been performed by them.”

Meanwhile within the UK, the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps) told the BBC that one in 3,000 people die worldwide because of this of complications, describing BBL because the “deadliest” cosmetic operation, warning its members to not perform the procedure until more safety information becomes available. But despite these warnings – and cautionary tales which can be now not few and much between – why are people still going under the knife? Instagram #bootygoals, popular culture personalities and reality television shows can all be attributed to the continued desire for surgical procedures – notably the Love Island phenomenon – no less than according SISU Aesthetics Clinics, who reported a 200% increase in demand for lip fillers a month after Megan Barton-Hanson appeared on the show. The chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, also spoke out about cosmetic surgery adverts that were being broadcast during breaks on Love Island, to voice his fears in regards to the pressures on young people and their perceptions of body image. When cosmetic surgery is fast becoming inescapable inside mainstream media, it’s easy to see why individuals are still opting in.

Matarasso attributes it to lack of knowledge. “Primary, I’m undecided there’s been complete penetration that BBL is such high risk. Number two, it’s human nature. People compare things to walking across the road and getting hit by a automotive. They think, ‘it won’t occur to me’ and choose to behave dangerously. For individuals who know there is a risk, they won’t realise how high it’s. The death rate is 1 in 3,000. The death rate of the following highest risk cosmetic surgery procedure is around 4 or five times less.”

“The death rate is 1 in 3,000. The death rate of the following highest risk cosmetic surgery procedure is around 4 or five times less” – Alan Matarasso

So how can we work towards a safer future? For people still planning to have the procedure done, Matarasso insists they do their homework. “They should ask questions. What’s the surgeon’s specialism? What are their qualifications? Where is the procedure being performed? What are the resuscitation facilities? In a hospital, lots of of doctors will come running if something goes unsuitable. Once you’re in an office it’s just you and the doctor. With a complication rate this high you have got to be in a facility at which you’re properly sorted. There are a lot of people around the globe who can do that operation safely, effortlessly.”

Meanwhile, there are measures in place to make sure successful education. Within the USA, a consortium of 5 medical partners including ASPS are working together to fund and facilitate a report – based on a series of cadaver dissections, laboratory tests and first-hand surgeon experience – in place to issue safety recommendations. ASPS are also funding a public education campaign to lift awareness. “When the reports are released it won’t be a eureka moment,” explains Matarasso. “Every operation has risk. However the reports will ensure more media interest which can aid in increasing public awareness about of the hazards of BBL.”