Kit Roberts
A leading plastic surgeon has opened up about why a popular cosmetic procedure is so risky.
Dr Dan Marsh is a consultant plastic surgeon and has more than 20 years of experience, working both with cosmetic surgery and reconstructive surgery.
This includes the Brazilian Butt Lift, or BBL for short, which recently saw a spike in popularity with many people opting to go and have the cosmetic procedure.
The surgery results in someone having a much larger and more rounded bum, and can also be used to give someone more of an 'hourglass' figure.
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But the procedure is very dangerous, and if not done properly can have very serious, and even fatal, complications.
Melissa Kerr, 31, died in Istanbul in November 2019 after travelling to have the surgery.
An inquest into her death heard that BBLs carry the highest risk of any cosmetic surgery, with deaths in over one in 4,000 procedures, the BBC reported.
Dr Marsh explained to LADBible Stories why BBLs carry such a high health risk.
Explaining the surgery, he said: "This is a surgery where you use liposuction to suck fat from somewhere in the body, typically the tummy, flanks, upper back or thigh area, and then you would re-inject it into the buttocks.
"Really popular a few years ago, the Kardashians popularized the BBL look."
But it's the very method in the surgery which makes it so dangerous, he explained.
"The reason it's so dangerous is because you're injecting high volumes of fat," the doctor explained.
"Now that's fine if it's done under the skin and in the not too high volumes, so if you're looking at less than a litre or something, but people are putting two litres plus into the buttocks."
This can have serious consequences if the fat is not properly contained.
"Sometimes that fat will go into the vein, the fat in the vein will then go round and lodge in the lungs, and patients would die because of the fat embolus, or fat going from the vein up into the lungs," the doctor explained.
So what measures can be taken to help reduce the risks that come with this operation?
Dr Marsh explained that one way is through using imaging techniques to help surgeons to know exactly where the fat is going.
"These days BBLs are done with ultrasound guidance, so you use an ultrasound probe so you can see exactly where you're injecting the fat," he explained.