Dr. Robert Whitfield compares buttock implants and fat transfer, warning that fat grafting risks nerve injury and potentially fatal fat emboli to the lungs. He cautions against unqualified providers and medical tourism, and notes how cultural figures like Kim Kardashian have driven demand for the procedure.
There's been a big trend in using fat graft to do butt augmentation in our practice. I think we try to set realistic expectations. You have to be able to inject a pretty large volume, and when you inject it, you have to do it so that you don't injure nerves or that you're not exposing the patient to emboli to their lungs, which can be life threatening. So we take a reasonable, measured approach to it, and, you know, we just want everybody to have a safe and a happy outcome. I think the images you see, somebody like Kim Kardashian has really brought the whole scope of buttock augmentation and buttock lifting and everything to the forefront. And people have to have some kind of realistic expectation about what they're going to have, because you can get yourself in very serious health situations if you go to an unqualified provider or if you travel out and have something done and then come back and get an infection that's either not recognized or not treated properly. So, you know, we see and examine each and every patient, tailor their needs, and try to just set expectations that are realistic for them. We want to not only provide a more full and contoured buttock area, but do it, you know, in a way that gives people safe and long lasting results.
