Butt Implants Gone Wrong: Why You Should Avoid Them

Kim Kardashian, Iggy Azalea, Nicki Minaj.

What do these 3 women have in common?

They are all known for having large butts. Many women want to emulate the posteriors of their idols and sometimes that’s easier said than done. You’re either born with a big butt or you’re not. There are some women who won’t take “no” for an answer and instead opt for elective surgery to increase the size of their butts.

We’re going to take a look at the history of butt implants, along with several reasons why you should avoid this surgery unless medically necessary.

History of butt implants

Dr. RJ Bartels was credited with creating the first butt implant in 1969. He and his team were under the impression that they could do it successfully if they used a standard breast implant. The results from that very first butt implant surgery were less than optimal. It did not have a natural look to it and this was because the implant was primarily designed for breasts, not butts. Not to mention he put the implant between the skin and the gluteus maximus muscle. This led to it moving around and creating an extremely unnatural appearance.

That literally allowed the patient to manually re-arrange her the shape of her butt with her hands.

Flash forward to a few years later (1984) and Argentinian surgeon Jose Robles decided to try putting an implant between the 2 layers of muscle in the butt. He called this procedure a “submuscular gluteoplasty”. It was the best working butt implant so far…but it was very technically challenging and no surgeon really wanted to attempt it.

After a few decades of trial and failure, doctors realized that the human butt was never going to accept an artificial implant. Unlike the human breasts, the butt is naturally designed to take on a lot of weight and stress. No implant would ever stand the stresses created on a daily basis by the butt.

The Brazilian Butt Lift

In the same year as Sir Mix-A-Lots #1 single “Baby Got Back” came out, the “Autologous fat transfer” procedure started appearing in medical journals. By this point in time, doctors had come to conclusion that implants were too tricky and something more natural had to be done. The procedure originated in Brazil, hence the name “Brazilian Butt Lift”.

The surgery was relatively straight forward: the doctor would take a tube and stick it in an area in your body where there was too much fat (eg: your legs, hips, or thighs) and suck the fat out. The fat would then be medically treated and injected into a plastic-like bag in your butt.

The beauty of this procedure is that it only takes 90 minutes to complete, and was relatively free from complications (vs. the post-operative infections and scarring you’d get from implant surgery).

Why Butt Implants are Not a Good Idea

Doesn’t the Brazilian Butt Lift sound kind of cool? Let’s all go out and get a buttock implant!

Not so fast.

Several medical doctors are advising against butt implants unless they are medically necessary. The claim that not enough time has passed to study the long-term effects of those people whom have had butt implants. Recently a video came out on the internet where a lady was literally able to manually maneuver the implant in her right butt cheek. It was kind of creepy and a cautionary tale about going under the knife to increase the size of your gluteus maximus.

Here are 4 reasons why you should avoid getting a butt implant:

Higher Risk of Complication

The butt implant surgery comes with high risks. The surgery calls for the surgeon to insert the implant above or below the gluteus maximus. This can lead to movement of the implant (after you’re healed up), capsular contracture or even fluid collection. Not to mention that if you start gaining weight, it could cause the implant to move or distort the entire shape of your butt. There are also no real long-term conclusions as to the safety and reliability of this procedure.

Results Are Not Permanent

Did you know that butt implants cannot remain in the human body for much more than 10-12 years? Just like breast implants, it is strongly recommended that patients replace the butt implants every decade. This requires another painful surgery along with a painful and long recovery process just to keep the shape of your butt the way you like it.

More Downtime After Procedure

Due to the complicated nature of the butt implant procedure, recovery time can be anywhere from 4-6 weeks. It has also been described as a very painful process to undergo.